Top 27 REST & RESTful Interview Questions And Answers

Question 1

What REST stands for?

Accepted Answer

*REST* stands for *REpresentational State Transfer*. REST is web standards based architecture and uses HTTP Protocol for data communication. It revolves around resource where every component is a resource and a resource is accessed by a common interface using HTTP standard methods. REST was first introduced by Roy Fielding in 2000.

In REST architecture, a REST Server simply provides access to resources and REST client accesses and presents the resources. Here each resource is identified by URIs/ global IDs. REST uses various representations to represent a resource like text, JSON and XML. Now a days JSON is the most popular format being used in web services.

Question 2

What is RESTful Web Services?

Accepted Answer

*Web Services* work on client-server model where client applications can access web services over the network. Web services provide endpoint URLs and expose methods that can be accessed over network through client programs written in java, shell script or any other different technologies. Web services are stateless and doesn’t maintain user session like web applications.

Question 3

Which protocol is used by RESTful webservices?

Accepted Answer

RESTful web services make use of HTTP protocol as a medium of communication between client and server.

Question 4

What is REST Web Services?

Accepted Answer

*REST* is the acronym for *REpresentational State Transfer.* REST is an architectural style for developing applications that can be accessed over the network. REST architectural style was brought in light by Roy Fielding in his doctoral thesis in 2000.

REST is a stateless client-server architecture where web services are resources and can be identified by their URIs. Client applications can use HTTP GET/POST methods to invoke Restful web services. REST doesn’t specify any specific protocol to use, but in almost all cases it’s used over HTTP/HTTPS.

When compared to SOAP web services, these are lightweight and doesn’t follow any standard. We can use XML, JSON, text or any other type of data for request and response.

Question 5

What are advantages of REST web services?

Accepted Answer

Some of the advantages of REST web services are:

* Learning curve is easy since it works on HTTP protocol
* Supports multiple technologies for data transfer such as text, xml, json, image etc.
* No contract defined between server and client, so loosely coupled implementation.
* REST is a lightweight protocol
* REST methods can be tested easily over browser.

Question 6

What are different HTTP Methods supported in Restful Web Services?

Accepted Answer

Restful web services supported HTTP methods are:
* GET, 
* POST, 
* PUT, 
* DELETE and 
* HEAD.

Question 7

Mention what are resources in a REST architecture?

Accepted Answer

Resources are identified by logical URLs; it is the key element of a RESTful design.  Unlike, SOAP web services in REST, you view the product data as a resource and this resource should contain all the required information.

Question 8

Mention what is the difference between AJAX and REST?

Accepted Answer

**Ajax**

* In Ajax, the request are sent to the server by using `XMLHttpRequest` objects. The response is used by the JavaScript code to dynamically alter the current page
* Ajax is a set of technology; it is a technique of dynamically updating parts of UI without having to reload the page
* Ajax eliminates the interaction between the customer and server asynchronously

**REST**

* REST requires the interaction between the customer and server
* REST have a URL structure and a request/response pattern the revolve around the use of resources
* REST is a type of software architecture and a method for users to request data or information from servers
* REST requires the interaction between the customer and server

Question 9

Mention some key characteristics of REST?

Accepted Answer

Some key characteristics of REST includes

* REST is stateless, therefore the SERVER has no state (or session data)
* With a well-applied REST API, the server could be restarted between two calls as every data is passed to the server
* Web service mostly uses POST method to make operations, whereas REST uses GET to access resources

Question 10

What is purpose of a URI in REST based webservices?

Accepted Answer

*URI* stands for *Uniform Resource Identifier*. Each resource in REST architecture is identified by its URI. Purpose of an URI is to locate a resource(s) on the server hosting the web service. A URI is of following format: ```sh ://// ```

Top 27 REST & RESTful Interview Questions

What REST stands for?

Which protocol is used by RESTful webservices?

What is REST Web Services?

What is RESTful Web Services?

What is a Resource in Restful web services?

Mention what are resources in a REST architecture?

What are advantages of REST web services?

What is purpose of a URI in REST based webservices?

What are different HTTP Methods supported in Restful Web Services?

Mention what is the difference between AJAX and REST?

Mention some key characteristics of REST?

What are disadvantages of REST web services?

What are the disadvantages of statelessness in RESTful Webservices?

What is messaging in RESTful webservices?

Mention what are the HTTP methods supported by REST?

What is addressing in RESTful webservices?

What is statelessness in RESTful Webservices?

WebSockets vs Rest API for real time data? Which to choose?

What's the difference between REST & RESTful?

What should be the purpose of OPTIONS method of RESTful web services?

What are the advantages of statelessness in RESTful Webservices?

Enlist some important constraints for RESTful web services

What should be the purpose of HEAD method of RESTful web services?

What are the best practices to be followed while designing a secure RESTful web service?

Explain the difference between WCF, Web API, WCF REST and Web Service?

Name some best practices for better RESTful API design

What is difference between OData and REST web services?