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Course2 HTTP Rest API Design

These notes cover the fundamentals of HTTP and REST API design, including methods, status codes, resource modeling, and versioning. Key learning objectives include the correct use of HTTP methods, appropriate status codes, and effective resource representation. The document also emphasizes best practices for error handling, security, and API documentation.

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20 views2 pages

Course2 HTTP Rest API Design

These notes cover the fundamentals of HTTP and REST API design, including methods, status codes, resource modeling, and versioning. Key learning objectives include the correct use of HTTP methods, appropriate status codes, and effective resource representation. The document also emphasizes best practices for error handling, security, and API documentation.

Uploaded by

DG
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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course2_http_rest_api_design

Auto-Generated Notes

2025-08-21

Tag: course_note Title: HTTP and REST API Design Fundamentals

Overview These notes outline HTTP semantics and practical REST API
design: methods, status codes, resource modeling, and versioning. Includes
examples and best practices.

Learning Objectives - Use HTTP methods correctly (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH,
DELETE) - Choose appropriate status codes and headers - Model resources
and relationships with URLs - Version and document APIs; handle
pagination and filtering

1. HTTP Semantics Methods

GET (safe, idempotent): retrieve resources


POST (unsafe): create subordinate or trigger action
PUT (idempotent): replace resource
PATCH (idempotent by spec? not required): partial update
DELETE (idempotent): remove resource

Idempotency and safety guide retries and caching.

2. Status Codes 2xx: success (200 OK, 201 Created with Location, 204 No
Content) 4xx: client issues (400, 401, 403, 404, 409, 422, 429) 5xx: server
issues (500, 502, 503) with Retry-After when appropriate.

3. Resource Modeling Use nouns and hierarchy: /customers/{id}/orders.


Avoid verbs in paths; use methods for actions. Represent links for
discoverability.

4. Query Parameters Filtering ?status=active, sorting ?sort=-created_at,


pagination ?page=2&per_page=50. Return metadata (total, next, prev) in
response.

5. Headers and Caching ETag/If-None-Match for conditional requests;


Cache-Control and Expires for caching. Prefer 304 when content
unchanged.

6. Versioning Prefer URI (/v1/) or media type versioning. Deprecate


responsibly with clear timelines.

7. Errors Return machine-readable errors: { “code”: “validation_error”,


“message”: “…”, “field”: “email” }
8. Security TLS everywhere, OAuth2/OIDC for auth, rate limiting. Never
leak internal details in errors.

Exercises 1) Design endpoints for a library system: books, authors, loans. 2)


Define pagination and filtering for listing books. 3) Write example
requests/responses for creating a loan.

References - RFC 7231 (HTTP/1.1 Semantics), RFC 9110 updates - API Design
Guidelines by major platforms

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