Book Image

RESTful Web API Design with Node.js - Second Edition

By : Valentin Bojinov
Book Image

RESTful Web API Design with Node.js - Second Edition

By: Valentin Bojinov

Overview of this book

In this era of cloud computing, every data provisioning solution is built in a scalable and fail-safe way. Thus, when building RESTful services, the right choice for the underlying platform is vital. Node.js, with its asynchronous, event-driven architecture, is exactly the right choice to build RESTful APIs. This book will help you enrich your development skills to create scalable, server-side, RESTful applications based on the Node.js platform. Starting with the fundamentals of REST, you will understand why RESTful web services are better data provisioning solution than other technologies. You will start setting up a development environment by installing Node.js, Express.js, and other modules. Next, you will write a simple HTTP request handler and create and test Node.js modules using automated tests and mock objects. You will then have to choose the most appropriate data storage type, having options between a key/value or document data store, and also you will implement automated tests for it. This module will evolve chapter by chapter until it turns into a full-fledged and secure Restful service.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)
RESTful Web API Design with Node.js - Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface

Chapter 1. REST – What You Did Not Know

Nowadays, topics such as cloud computing and mobile device service feeds, as well as other data sources driven by cutting-edge, scalable, stateless, and modern technologies such as RESTful web services, leave the impression that REST was invented recently. Well, to be honest, it definitely was not! In fact, REST has been here since the end of the 20th century.

This chapter will walk you through REST's fundamental principles, and it will explain how REST couples with the HTTP protocol. You will look into the five key principles that need to be considered while turning an HTTP application into a RESTful-service-enabled application. You will also look at the differences in describing RESTful and classic SOAP-based web services. Finally, you will learn how to utilize already existing infrastructure for your benefit.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • REST fundamentals
  • REST with HTTP
  • Essential differences in the description and discovery of RESTful services compared to classical SOAP-based services
  • Taking advantage of existing infrastructure