A RESTful API is an application program interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data.
A RESTful API – also referred to as a RESTful web service – is based on representational state transfer (REST) technology, an architectural style and approach to communications often used in web services development.
Wikipedia: 表征性状态传输(英文:Representational State Transfer,简称REST)是Roy Fielding博士于2000年在他的博士论文中提出来的一种软件架构风格。
Roy Fielding是HTTP协议(1.0版和1.1版)的主要设计者,事实上HTTP 1.1规范正是基于REST架构风格的指导原理来设计的。需要注意的是,REST是一种设计风格而不是标准,如果一个架构符合REST原则,我们就称它为RESTful架构。