Groking HTTP Methods
- 1. HTTP Methods How They Relate to RESTful API's
- 2. About Me Herman J. Radtke III Web Architect at HauteLook Design the RESTful API Writing PHP for 9 years Maintain pecl/gearman and pecl/memcache
- 3. Perspective HauteLook's API is for internal use Very few restrictions on design Example: Netflix Many companies have an external API Concerned with how the design affects other clients (ex: flash) Examples: Twilio, Jira, Facebook
- 4. Why? REST is an architectural style
- 5. RESTful Language HTTP Methods are verbs URLs are nouns Example: GET /users/1234
- 6. Logging Out POST /logout POST is for create Means: Create a logout resource DELETE /logout DELETE is to remove a resource Means: Delete a logout resource DELETE /credentials
- 7. GET vs POST Do we actually know the differences?
- 8. GET vs POST I ask every interviewee this question. Common answers: GET does not send a body in the request POST can send more data POST is more secure
- 9. Idempotence Idempotence means no side-effects. This is the most important difference! GET is idempotent (safe) POST is not idempotent (unsafe) It allows the web to scale.
- 10. Improper use of GET <a href=”/logout.php”>Logout</a> We just broke the internet Caching proxies Browser "accelerator" plugins Better to use a form with the POST method Other example: Tracking Pixels
- 11. POST vs PUT POST is create and PUT is update, right? Not so simple Methods do not map to CRUD CRUD can map to the methods Key difference? PUT is idempotent!
- 13. Create Using PUT
- 14. Update Using POST 1/2
- 15. Update Using POST 2/2
- 16. Update Using PUT
- 18. Additional Resources RFC 2616 Method Definitions - http://www. w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec9.html #rest on freenode My twitter - @hermanradtke