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REST APIs

REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for networked applications, especially web services. It defines a set of constraints and principles for building scalable, stateless, and interoperable APIs that use standard HTTP methods to interact with resources identified by URIs.

Every Cardano data provider used in this section - Koios, Blockfrost, Maestro - is a REST API. Understanding the basics makes the workshops easier to follow.

Brief history​

REST was introduced by Roy Thomas Fielding in his 2000 doctoral dissertation at UC Irvine, where he co-authored the HTTP specification. Fielding distilled the architectural principles that made the World Wide Web successful into a formal style. REST emerged as a way to standardise web service design, in contrast to more complex approaches like SOAP. It became the dominant style for web APIs through the 2000s and 2010s, powering everything from social media to cloud computing.

Key principles​

  • Stateless - each request contains everything the server needs; no server-side session state.
  • Client-server architecture - clean separation between client and server concerns.
  • Cacheable - responses can be cached to improve performance.
  • Uniform interface - consistent use of HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and resource URIs.
  • Layered system - the architecture can be composed of hierarchical layers (proxies, gateways, etc.).
  • Code on demand (optional) - servers can extend client functionality by sending executable code.
  • Resource-based - every "thing" is a resource with a unique URI.

How it shows up in this section​

All return JSON. The microcontroller parses the JSON with ArduinoJson and reacts.

Resources​

Adapted from the CardanoThings project, originally produced under Project Catalyst Fund 11. Source: github.com/CardanoThings.