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What is REST API? Everything You Should Know 

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What is REST API? Everything You Should Know 

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REST API stands for Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface, also known as RESTful API. REST APIs are commonly used in web applications and mobile apps, allowing developers to create their own custom interfaces to access data stored in databases.

For example, when a developer requests Facebook to get a user's post information through APIs, the API will fetch the text and media of that post from the Facebook database. This information will come in JSON and XML formats.

What is REST API?

Let's break the term down and understand it one by one. An API can be defined as a set of protocols and definitions that are used for building and creating application software. An API will help you communicate with the system so that it is easily fulfilled once you put in a request. It establishes a contract between the information provider and the information user, all keeping safety, security, control, and authentication in mind!

REST: It stands for . Eminent computer scientist "Representational State Transfer". REST is a software architectural style that is adapted to implement web services. These websites are then known as RESTful web services. Roy Fielding created it

When a client requests RESTful API, the representation of the state of resources of the user is transferred to the endpoint. This information can be in the following format: HTML, XLT, Python, or simply plain text as well.
The key elements of the REST API paradigm are

a client or software that runs on a user's computer or smartphone and the one to initiate communication

a server that offers an API as a medium of access to its data or features

a resource, which is any piece of content that the server can provide to the client (it can be a video or a text file).

Working on RESTful API:

A particular request is first sent from client to server in the form of a web URL like HTTP GET, POST, PUT, or DELETE. When the response comes back from the server, it is in the form of a resource that can be anything like HTML, XML, Image, or JSON.

Some data formats that are compatible with RESTful APIs are:

There are five methods in HTTP which are commonly used in a REST-based Architecture:

POST request - to create data

GET request - to fetch data

PUT request - to create or update an existing resource

PATCH request - to update data without modifying the complete data

DELETE request - to delete data

Principles of REST API

1. Uniformity in Interface

REST has the following four interface constraints:

Resource identification - Unique identification of each resource involved in the interaction between the client and the server by the interface

Resource Manipulation using representations - The resources must have uniform representations in the server response. The resource representations are the data, the metadata describing the data, and the hypermedia links that can help the clients transition to the next desired state.

Self-descriptive messages - Each resource representation must describe how messages are processed and how the client can perform additional actions on the server.

Hypermedia as the engine of application state - A client should have only the initial URI of the application. The client application should drive all other resources and interactions with the help of hyperlinks.

These constraints help in providing uniformity across the application.

2. Code on demand

Under this principle, REST API permits the client's code or applets to be downloaded and used in the application. That means it doesn't rely on its code structure and creates a smart application. This principle is optional.

3. Cacheable nature

The applications are often created cacheable by labeling the response from the server either implicitly or explicitly. If the response is cacheable, then the client can use response data for equivalent responses in the future.

4. Layered Architecture

A layered system architecture creates a systematic process or code of conduct that has to be followed. It helps balance the load, enhancing the application's overall security as components in each layer cannot interact beyond the next immediate layer they are in.

5. Statelessness

Each request is self-contained and sufficient. When one request is completed, and the next is made, the communication between client and server does not keep track of the state of sessions. Since the state of a session is supplied in each request, neither the client nor the server requires knowledge of the other's state to communicate. Maintaining a constant connection between the client and the server is not required, implying a higher failure tolerance. REST APIs can react to queries from multiple clients without overloading the server's ports.

6. Client-Server

As long as the API and the client code continue to communicate in the same format, they are easily changeable without affecting the other.

Advantages of RESTful API:

1. Independence: Autonomous development across several project sections is effortless since there is a separation between the client and the server.

An existing website is easy to 2. Scalability: scale up because of stateless communication and a replicated repository, unlike SOAP.

3. Usage of HTTP: HTTP is the most popular implementation of REST. It connects you to any language, making the platform easier to use.

4. Management Advantage: Changes can be carried out in databases at any time, and migration from one server to another can be achieved easily. It is a huge management advantage as the front and end can be operated and hosted on different servers without hassle.

Disadvantages of RESTful API:

1. Nature of multiple APIs and Round Trips: This architectural style sometimes makes it hard to choose when the clients have to make multiple round trips to fetch their data. For the onboarding customers, it is troublesome because it increases the effort for the API owner to document the whole thing

REST cannot be relied on for 2. Complex Environment: handling huge amounts of data, and its lightweight architecture makes it hard to handle complex environments as well.

3. Unpredictability: As RESTful API has no concept of client request language, the client is left with the uncertainty of what data server would return.

REST APIs are impactful and highly used over others because of their simplicity in development with limited resources and fewer security requirements, browser compatibility, and scalability, all of which are what one needs for web services.

In today's time, many eminent cloud companies use REST APIs for their applications, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google.

Importance of APIs

There are many other industries besides software development companies that use APIs. Generally, an IT Industry uses the APIs to fulfill internal needs, such as using the APIs in mobile application development and software programs so servers can communicate with each other.

But today, many other industries are also available that use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). They also rely on APIs to grow faster and achieve their goals in this digital world.

E-commerce, Manufacturing, Banking, Travel, and Healthcare industries use APIs in Application development. In fact, APIs are everywhere. After implementing APIs, these industries made our lives easier. We can directly communicate or check anything through the mobile application whenever we need anything.

So, APIs have a huge impact on our day-to-day life. And with the increased adoption of APIs, the need for API testing tools has also been rising.

FAQs about REST API
1. What is the difference between REST API vs RESTful API?
There is no major difference between REST API and RESTful API. REST API is the set of constraints, and RESTful refers to an API that follows those constraints.
2. What are the differences between PUT and PATCH
The main difference between PUT and PATCH is that PATCH only updates or modifies the given fields and doesn't change any other values. While PUT update or replace the entire resource. and create.
3. What are the four most common REST API operations?
The four HTTP methods commonly used in a REST-based Architecture are POST, GET, PUT, and DELETE.

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What is REST API? Everything You Should Know | Just Total Tech

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REST API stands for Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface, also known as RESTful API. REST APIs are commonly used in web applications and mobile apps, allowing developers to create their own custom interfaces to access data stored in databases.

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WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal. Which platform is more secure?

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WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal. Which platform is more secure?

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Which chatting app is better these days, answer is here.

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The best chat app would allow you to send texts, share photos, make calls, video conference and other packed features. WhatsApp was once considered and most preferred with about 2 billion monthly active users. However, numbers do not always tell you the entire story, with a comprehensive comparison amongst security and privacy with other apps, WhatsApp lagged with updates in their policy. No surprise, recently users have experienced security concerns, spam has begun, malware threads and much more.

WhatsApp has been alleged in the witness box with a constant influx of features for its security feature and reliability. Under certain circumstances, multiple people can breach your privacy policy, and your end-to-end encrypted messages are no more 'private'.

Have you ever been scrambled with advertisements of products showing up in social media feeds that you recently gossiped with your friend in chat? The ad pops up on your Instagram feed, Facebook posts about the product you wished to buy and you thought it's just modern urban myth or coincidence. But Big tech companies are looking for creative loopholes to use up your data, whether it be Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or other.

WhatsApp and Signal have been accessed by billions of customers monthly. The apps have penetrated deep inside the strong market of the US as well as other countries. It is considered a prominent element of daily social diet and the most popular social media app worldwide.

WhatsApp has been promising for end-to-end encryption and high on security since its inception. But since the last few years, it has been baited for its security and privacy issues.

Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, and users were astonished and worried about their privacy issues. Still its question for many about how much data is flowing between the two platforms. Most of them experienced a shocking awakening this week; the app unlocked the mystery about step WhatsApp grasps to share more with Facebook in 2016.

A tweet by Elon Musk is enough to get an app in the first place of the APP store. FB platform apps are disappearing from the top 10. pic.twitter.com/kAw7YhNxiT

- Cody McLain (@codymclain) January 11, 2021

On a Monday, there was a pop-up mentioning the update about its terms of use and privacy policy, basically extending its practices around business users about how they can store their communication. As on February 8, WhatsApp would upgrade the privacy policy, and users must accept these terms to continue using the application. WhatsApp removed a passage where it mentioned sharing data with Facebook enhancing Facebook ads and products experiences. In haste, users started peeking for other messaging apps that ensure safety while remaining private and secure.

WhatsApp has been sharing information about its majority of users to Facebook Since 2016 when there was an update to its privacy policy. In the wake of the policy update recently, high profile social media users denounced WhatsApp and began using alternatives like Signal and Telegram. A notable notification from Elon musk with above 41.9 million followers tweeted to Use Signal due to privacy issues.

Use Signal

- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021

Signal and Telegram witnessed a surge in download with more than 100,000 users across Google and Apple app stores last week. However, WhatsApp fell by 11% the first week of January, reaching 10.5 million globally. Signal did not expect the sudden influx of users and notified that verification code to create new accounts is slow down due to rise in demand, and they are working to resolve it as soon as possible.

Telegram vs WhatsApp vs Signal

Though there is no shortage or limitation of messaging services available, if privacy and security are a major issue, criteria are narrowed down. Using communication apps is pretty, but insecure options are quite worrisome. Communication apps easily intercepted and passed through a middleman, and there is the scope of invasions of privacy. Let's look on to the prominent players, WhatsApp vs Signal vs Telegram, which is better in terms of security.

Each holds its pros and cons, benefits and drawbacks, with different terms and conditions, but one major thing about them is encryption. Encryption is a way of scrambling data, and only authorized parties can decode it and understand the information. It is the process of converting simple text into incomprehensive text. It cannot be intercepted easily; a cryptography expert can decrypt them.

As each platform has different offers in different areas, we will dive in and take a keen observation of each aspect of privacy and security that you might need to know.

WhatsApp

Collaborated with Facebook, WhatsApp already had many security and privacy issues and its likely enough for many users to drawback using WhatsApp. Many users avoided Facebook as it was rumoured that the messaging tool would not share any personal data collected. Now, when WhatsApp mentioned it in a clear perspective that their data would be shared with Facebook, it's up to you, if you swung around WhatsApp or choose or drop the idea and switch to another app.

In 2014, WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for approximately US$19.3 billion.

WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, and you need to check if it's enabled at your end and with people you chat with. WhatsApp mentions that it does not store any messages on the server, but they can be retained for 30 days until the recipient reclaims them.

Unlike Facebook, even WhatsApp is free from ads, and it is rumoured and confirmed that ads would start to appear in WhatsApp statuses in 2020.

WhatsApp's downloads declined by 35% from 5.2 million to 1.3 million.

WhatsApp uses the highly praised encryption protocol and encrypts every text and message by default.

Telegram

A telegram is a cross-platform tool available for Android, Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux. The platform uses MTProto encryption protocol, but it doesn't work in the same way. There are bulk of messages stored on cloud servers and encrypted on servers. Telegram's additional layer in secret chats offers the client to client encryption that any other device recovers cant beyond the sender and receiver. Simply, if you send a message through secret chat, it is encrypted, and the receiver can decrypt it.

In response to WhatsApp's new privacy policy, 25 million new users joined Telegram within 72 hours alone.

Telegram is criticized for its lack of transparency no matter how much they assure of encryption protocol. The end to end encryption is not enabled by default, you need to opt for a secret mode to be sure nothing goes off the way, and no one else taps into your communication. Beyond these caveats, Telegram is impressive in most features like chat backups and disappearing messages.

Telegram is not secure as the brands marketing campaign or policy; it mentions that might lead you to believe. As per interviews with leading encryption and security experts, the app doesn't meet its proclamations regarding safe and secure messaging features. Telegram does not use end-to-end encryption as it is advocated for.

Telegram copies your address book to server and does not thoroughly encrypt all metadata. Telegram supports up to 200,000 group messaging, which is hard to imagine in the scenario. There are a lot of public and private channels and an unlimited number of subscribers. With lots of advantages and flaws, the app is still opted by most users.

If ads are your concern, then Telegram is a good choice as it does not make money through advertising as noted in the FAQ. Pavel Durov supplied Telegram with a substantial donation that they don't need supportive funds for the time being.

Signal

a signal is considered the most secure messaging, voice and video conferencing platform with end to end encryption. Signal USP is highly focused on privacy. Its source code is peer-reviewed, and independent experts frequently inspect security and privacy. The biggest strength of the platform is its privacy: it encrypts calls, texts, gifs, group calls and everything. However, the flaw it carries is its backup and restore mechanism is not up to mark. In case you switch phones, you need to follow convoluted steps to transfer your chats to new devices.

Between 6 Jan to 10 Jan, 2.3 million people downloaded Signal app in India.

Signal is the most secure messaging app considered right now. Beyond Elon Musk, Edward Snowden also recommended Signal due to its end-to-end inception, which makes it extremely difficult to spy on conversations. It uses a second password to log in to new devices with biometric authentication and much more to enhance security features.

In privacy terms, Signal is better than WhatsApp. The platform's primary goal is to provide you with a source where you can communicate without being spied on.

Final Verdict

WhatsApp privacy issue has been popping up everywhere, declaring its intention to use your data for advertising. It has been a major concern for users. It depends upon the users whether they are comfortable using WhatsApp with end to end encrypted features despites its some drawbacks of sharing data with Facebook or want to opt for alternative Telegram. However, those, unlike Telegram, hold some drawbacks, a company already infamous for their decoding users data and tons of messages stored on their server.

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WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal. Which platform is more secure?

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The best chat app would allow you to send texts, share photos, make calls, video conference and other packed features. WhatsApp was once considered and most preferred with about 2 billion monthly active users. However, numbers do not always tell...