Why REST? Understanding the Benefits of REST API

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The development world is a quickly evolving one, and businesses that want to stay ahead of the curve need to be capable of adapting to ever-evolving digital technologies. So, promoting a “restful” application programming interface (API) may seem anti-productive—but it’s exactly the opposite. Businesses that offer online services use APIs to communicate between systems. Among the various types of APIs, representational state transfer, or REST, APIs are one of the most widely used. In fact, around 70% of all public APIs are REST APIs. Why? Because despite the lackadaisical speed the name implies, they’re actually the workhorses of APIs.

Read on to learn key characteristics of the REST architectural style, how it works, why REST API is so important and widely used, security measures to consider and what to look for in a REST API provider.

 

What Is REST API?

To understand REST API, one must first know that an application program interface, or API, is the name given to the code that sets uniform standards for how a developer writes a program so it can communicate with other operating systems or applications.

A RESTful API is a type of application program interface that uses HTTP requests and is based on “representational state transfer” (REST) architectural style, which requires the system be cacheable, remove the need to edit code, offer a uniform interface and a provide a method of separating client and server information. Using HTTP requests, REST API can perform operations such as searching for information (GET), adding information (POST), editing information (PUT) and DELETE.

 

Benefits of Tapping Into a RESTful API

Businesses that use RESTful AIPs can take advantage of several benefits. For example, they can be used without expensive third-party tools. The documentation is easier to understand and returns readable results. REST API also allows many different data formats and is especially good for cloud-based applications due to its statelessness, which means no information is kept or shared between REST executions. Additionally, REST APIs’ stateless functionality allows calls to be easily redeployed at scale.

RESTful APIs are preferable to SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) API technology for many reasons. They’re:

  • Lightweight
  • Easy to maintain
  • Scalable and flexible
  • Efficient and fast
  • High performing
  • Smaller and more efficient

These are all good reasons to select REST instead of SOAP—especially when using CSG Forte products and capabilities like our payments platform DEX, reporting or out tokenization tool Forte.js.

 

Security Considerations for Using REST APIs

While REST APIs offer numerous benefits, it’s crucial to implement proper security measures. Here are a few best practices to secure your REST API:

  • Authentication: Secure your API keys with proven methods to ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive data.
  • Encryption: Always use HTTPS for encrypted communication between the client and server. This prevents data from mid-transmission interception.
  • Input validation: Properly validate and sanitize user input to protect your API from common vulnerabilities like SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
  • Rate limiting: To prevent abuse and protect your API from denial-of-service attacks, implement rate limiting that restricts the number of requests a user can make in a given time.

 

CSG Forte API Solutions

CSG Forte’s REST API enables merchants and partners to perform a variety of powerful tasks, such as creating and updating credit card, electronic check and scheduled transactions; securely managing customer and payment data; querying and tracking settlement information and creating and submitting merchant applications for new organizations and locations.

It supports multiple programming languages, such as JSON, Java, PHP, Ruby and VB.NET. REST is best suited for merchants that are tech savvy and have developer resources. These include ISVs with multiple merchants or third-party app developers that aim to receive and leverage our webhooks.

For code samples, visit our developer documentation site. If you need assistance determining which API is right for you, contact our experts at CSG Forte.