REST (Representational State Transfer)

REST, or Representational State Transfer, is an architectural style for designing networked applications, primarily used in web services. It relies on a stateless, client-server communication model where resources are identified by URLs. RESTful APIs use standard HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to perform operations on resources, which are typically represented in formats like JSON or XML. This architectural style emphasizes scalability, simplicity, and performance by allowing clients and servers to interact with each other independently of their underlying implementations. REST is often contrasted with other web service designs like SOAP due to its lightweight nature and reliance on standard web protocols.