What is a REST API?

Learn more about about APIs → ibm.biz/guide-to-apis
Learn more about REST APIs → ibm.biz/rest-apis-guide
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What is a REST API? What are the benefits and how are they fundamental to your cloud application?
In this lightboard video, Nathan Hekman with IBM Cloud, answers these questions and much more as he visually shows the benefits a company can gain with using REST API.
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#RESTAPI #APIs #IBMCloud

[@heociel]

Is no one else going to say it? This video is in Dark Mode, and that's why we love it

[@kellysturm7193]

It’s the squeaky marker for me

[@Kirkrrr]

@@kellysturm7193 Only IBM has the resources to produce a marker with just the perfect amount of squeak for their YT videos.

[@RobinShrestha1]

I'm not sure if I'm more impressed with the explanation or the fact that he wrote all this stuff backwards to our viewpoint

[@mustaphazero4929]

you can do that just by converting right with left (like what selfie does when you take a picture)

[@antonkalashnikov572]

Ahhh

[@Metroidam11]

I knew this was flipped after filming but it still looked super weird lol. Almost distracting

[@gonzobmx91]

haha - my first thought was - genius :p

[@BytesizedL]

talk about distraction, we didnt notice the person is Mr Beast replica@@Metroidam11

[@vladimirzizic4940]

The mirror, fluorescent markers, the lightning, black background, this video looks amazing!

[@pitpatepapatebom6868]

It hurt my brain tho :3

[@zkdr6278]

Coulda done without the squeaking though

[@radmilaneykova6011]

@@pitpatepapatebom6868 OMG, my jaw dropped when he started writing...I had to go back and listen again, because I was so distracted

[@tannerbarcelos6880]

One of the best representations and explanations of this architectural pattern. REST really is straight forward if you can simply think about how the data should come and go in your app!

[@Shanmukha-bw3px]

Aand it actually does what a http does

[@elijahbuscho7715]

I was marveling at how he was writing backwards so easily, but the I realized that it's just mirrored. Dude's right handed

[@conorm2524]

He could be a genius, he's swapped his wedding ring to his right hand ;-)

[@seguneros79]

I worked as a Business Analyst on an Open Banking project - Gosh I wish this video/resource was available to me to simplify the crazy first couple of months to digest this information. Enjoyed this, very well done and simplified. Great job!

[@lillyberta422]

Same here lol

[@nicknorris6073]

Starting a PM role in the open banking space next month -- definitely need the refresher!

[@ChristopherBergsten]

If you are an analyst, you should not have to care about this. This should be priovided to you.

[@eminm6383]

This was by far one of the the simplest and at the same time, thorough enough explanations about REST Apis. Big Thanks

[@undiscoveredpride7879]

Hey, Nathan Hekman , You are a wonderful presenter and you example was so précised, clear and from real world. Please keep making more content. It was a great video with great content.

[@grothe.dominik]

Never seen such enthusiasm while explaining stuff :) GREAT!

[@manangoyal5026]

Amazing video man. Understood it quickly and clearly. Loved the editing etc and the breakdown of timeline. Great work!

[@sunnilabeouf]

I can't help but think of the fact that he's technically writing backwards

[@IBMTechnology]

Hey Abdulrahman! Not quite :) Here is a post where we explain how these videos are created: ibm.co/2U1ofAe

[@VitapRamdevputra]

@@IBMTechnology link says - page is not available.

[@YigitmK]

They probably mirrored video...

[@vuufke4327]

with his left hand apparently... the video is flipped sir

[@canox6017]

@@vuufke4327 You know left handed people exist right?

[@yatin1370]

As a person who is just starting out learning about APIs and Integration...this was a goldmine. Thanks a lot!

[@judyl6325]

This really helped clear up for me what a REST API is and how HTTP methods work. Marker squeak was a little painful but I appreciate the content.

[@brookelusher1056]

Thank you! Insanely helpful and informative, simplified on a topic that is hard to simplify.

[@IBMTechnology]

Thanks for watching, Brooke! Appreciate your feedback. 💙

[@SheCreatesGames]

I really like how simple and useful this is! Your explanations made RESTful API so easy to understand.

[@himansh0715]

This was so smooth that I was already familiar with REST APIs but ended up watching the entire video, great work IBM team :)

[@zoltannemeth8864]

Nice video! Heading to bed now for a RESTful sleep.

[@IBMTechnology]

😉 👍

[@Dioums]

Probably the best explanation of REST API...very easy to understand. Thank you!

[@mnarauploader]

Probs the most straight-forward and simple intro to REST APIs. Thanks for this!

[@bosshaug5672]

This is THE video I've been needing thank you. All other videos just start diving into way basic different stuff or just go with examples of APIs. Thanks for this!

[@ningyoh3490]

The way you explained this was so amazing and simple to understand,thank you ! kudos to your understanding and teaching 👏❤

[@PawanKumar-tu6ti]

The content is really amazing, never found an explanation something that detailed and simple.

[@IBMTechnology]

Glad you liked it! 😀

[@cosmicpuma1409]

These IBM vids are really well done and the info is on point! Thank You!

[@kavishalakmal3273]

i have watched many videos regarding rest API, but no one explained it this much clearly.. great job 🔥

[@petervangheluwe4133]

This was a great, simple and short explanation, thanks!

[@markjoseph5059]

Outstanding and informative examples. You're going to go far in this field.

[@The-Great-Brindian]

He's at IBM. He already has ? :-/

[@crazydavec3861]

@@The-Great-Brindian yeah well it's a big field...😉 the technology was invented by Roy FIELD-ing... after all! 😀

[@sharpazn]

i made my first web app with REST weeks ago without knowing 100% of the concept. I wish i saw this video before! All i knew is that i needed to change my dependencies, make my link, make the client-server architecture and communicate with my DB with SQL commands. Great stuff!

[@cooldon5]

one of the best explanations i have seen about REST API . this is by far the best and clear elaboration of this topic. good job !!!

[@moiraleon8744]

LOVE LOVE LOVE your teaching style. The video and audio quality are great. If you used EQ in post production to get rid of high pitched marker squeaking sounds that would really improve my experience and hopefully others who are sensitive to high pitched sounds. Thank you for your teaching!

[@mccomasd]

Was literally thinking they should have put a high pass filter on this. You can too just not listening on a mobile device.

[@joshualevan]

eh, I'd disagree. I like the low-fi, intimate atmosphere with all the details that come with analog/ tangible tools. The more we can circle back to old-school teaching with modern accessibility, the better. Not everything in life needs digitally polished.

[@IT10T]

@@joshualevanPeople nowadays are too critical of everything online; if you were in the room with that guy after he gives you a lesson, would anyone bother him about his marker noise? Doubt it, so why do we feel secure enough to critique strangers online who are trying to help us? This is KZbin, not Netflix, post EQ is not for this platform.

[@simonsanden9521]

@@IT10T First question, yes, I for sure would. Second question, critique is not always hurtful. It can be helpful aswell. And this is a platform where you upload videos, edited or not, for the best viewing experience. What the heck are you on about

[@heathergray4880]

For the first time in my life, I know what a REST API is! Thank you

[@ioinfinity]

The whiteboard presentation was amazing! Know the concept of API easily!

[@leightonbuchanan-cates3932]

Been struggling to understand RESTful API, this video helped understand it in much simpler, broken down terms. Thank you so much!

[@lethatsinkin]

It's rare to find good quality tutorial videos. And I am saying this cause I didn't know how time flew by when you were teaching. And it didn't happen just once, multiple videos. Grateful 🙌🙌🙌

[@Joshua-sp1kd]

Really great production. At first, the dramatic lighting was jarring, but later when the board filled up, the shadows helped separate the talent from the text we were looking at it. Bravo to the presenter, too

[@The-Great-Brindian]

nah, I wanted more lights my self. Disco lights would have been ideal. The flashing rotating ones.

[@chance2646]

I loved the screeching marker tip on the glass.

[@odd4231]

this is easily the BEST explanation I have ever come across. thank you!

[@Foba_Bett]

Truly one of the best videos i found on the internet for a beginner!

[@ianwinkler6224]

Thank you for this simple explanation. I'm by no means a real programmer but my work wants me to build a simple app that uses this stuff. This is extremely helpful.

[@JHatLpool]

A great video. Very good explanations and examples of the key points. Thanks for posting.

[@abrahamcastanedocornejo2510]

BEST 10 minutes class ever! Thank you so much!

[@Booboo2311]

The best explanation, made it crystal clear

[@thegnoo]

Best video on youtube on this topic by far. Thanks a lot!

[@farrhhfarhaan]

What an easy explanation.. Really thankful

[@senthilkumaran5317]

Learned web development from Jonas udemy course. And now seeing this video keeps my learned concepts fresh and improved ☺️

[@jonathanpoole1494]

awesome explanation! at first, I thought you were writing left handed and backwards, but it makes more sense that you were writing right handed and forwards, and then flipped the vid in post-production. I love this format! Keep it up!

[@SuganthanHarmless]

I was wondering about this too!

[@GulfCoastGrit]

I thought that too, until I saw the wedding ring. He legit wrote left handed and backwards. Unless of course he was married in the Eastern Orthodox church, but I'm willing to bet he wrote backwards.

[@larissabranovacki8164]

came to the comments to see if anybody else had wondered about the writing! lol

[@morgann3630]

I'm a former techie who left the industry for a while, and came back as a leader of a large group of techies, so I'm playing a little bit of catch-up with videos like these, so I know what my teams are doing and can provide guidance or prioritisation. This video was straightforward and helpful. Thank you SO much for the really excellent, approachable and deliciou---I mean, descriptive bite of ice c---I mean, information. Damnit, I'm going for the Ben & Jerry's.

[@VeraxMusic]

Strawberry Cheesecake flavor or Cherry Garcia are my suggestions ;)

[@palina_live]

Thanks for the clear explanation and examples. Love it :)

[@adnanemezrag3809]

Man this is very straight forward. Thanks mate.

[@davidbercovici]

Great Job! looking forward to see more videos like this. Is in the scope of this videos, the continuation of this icecream shop example? I would love to see how actually USE all this requests and responses in the website/app. With this methodology would it be great to see the front-end part. Now is time for an ice cream. Cheers

[@rahultable]

Beautiful explanation even a non-technical person can understand. One feedback, the marker sound was making me crazy though

[@azureaqua2218]

omg I haven't seen a beautiful mesmerizing explanation of REST API

[@andriykovalenkofitness]

This is a pretty cool breakdown. Thanks!

[@gmkhussain]

Manager: *Why isn't your APIs responding?* Me: *Its RESTing*

[@raghud541]

U have mastered teaching and explained this in very simple terms and a lovely meaningful video, Thanks a ton.

[@bonnieeberhart9297]

Just started learning about API's and servers this week. This video is great for visual learners like me (in fact the best one i've seen)

[@downunder365]

need more focused on authenitcation like security and how actually the request is been made,

[@yaBoyDreamer]

for a what is rest api kinda video, this is brilliant; those are intermediate concepts, not fit for an introductory video (a short one, like this, anyway)

[@kedjos2202]

Great and Simple, Just curious how its different from traditional web service,one could be stateless ,any thoughts...Keep up nice one.

[@zornitsamoutafchiyska8916]

This is one of the best explanations I've found on the topic!!! And I've seen a lot :D This video is great! Thank you!

[@lucascarriconde529]

Perfect explanation! Finally understand API!

[@ThomasDonnelly]

Um, what is thie black magic vodoo he is doing with his whiteboarding?! I hear the marker but there is more to this. I love it.

[@DrMerciless]

RIP headset users. squeak squeak

[@xanderunderwoods3363]

This is the best teaching video I have ever seen on this subject, thank you!

[@mrd.j.2303]

Great video and explanations. Simple to understand and the way he was writing on the screen/glass was crazy and easy to understand. Idk how they do it though lol

[@Binizh23]

I gave this video a like just because of the "RESTful Flavour" joke.

[@Aurangazeebak333]

I didn't get how REST API is advantageous and how does it differ from API

[@Sergey_Doshch]

He did not say that. Technical folks talk to themselves not the audience :-) but that fine because you need to learn yourself

[@deli5777]

My first video on the rabbit trail. Thanks for the info

[@user-mo3mt3zw2n]

Thank you for the detailed example based explanation. Loved it :)

[@faysalkhan8p]

A big thanks to the editor for muting while writing. It helps big time. Thats a painful sound.

[@mehmetdemir-lf2vm]

endpoint, method and parameters cannot always be differentiated. rest is only a solution for using a very small set of crud operations on databases. rest api just: 1. enables browsers to use http protocol to access databases 2. enables connection pooling at the application server and removes necessity to connect to a database for every function call 3. constrain the client to use only a couple of functions rather than enabling them to use full range of commands that can be used when directly connected to a database. i think a more generalized solution is required to solve wide range of operations. what i suggest is to use stored functions defined in database systems that use json as input and output. a thin and fast application server should do only connection pooling, firewall and logging functions. a server should be used to generate authentication keys and these keys should be checked by functions on the database server for authorization. with this simple design there will be almost nothing that cannot be achieved and there will never need to add extra servers to do things that cannot be done with this architecture.

[@djzhou9212]

Great explanation of REST. Thanks.

[@joshualevan]

Genius presentation. I love the 2-way approach

[@robertbrautigam6720]

This is RPC over HTTP at most. Any presentation that does not include the words MediaType or Hypermedia can not be about REST. I get that the industry in general basically rejected hypermedia, but it is still an integral part of many of the advantages claimed. Also, it is not simple at all, you're just doing the simple parts and ignoring the hard ones, like caching (mentioned, but then forgotten), discovery or resources, designing the flow of the client _from the server_, etc.. That added knowledge is what makes REST so powerful, not the making some random HTTP requests with some json content. The linked "Handbook" and "REST APIs" documents are also talking mostly about the RPC-style. With the only mention of links in "paging". Don't underestimate the power of links and forms! Come on IBM, you could actually lead here, and show how it's done properly! Leave the OpenAPI/Swagger train and do it right!

[@mrmarcdee]

Omg your marker squeaking is horrific. I really wanted to watch this too.

[@davidsimoes4674]

Thanks for making me understand once and for all, splendid work.

[@hakami1426]

This was extremely helpful. It also helped me understand JSON a little better.

[@thomasjbass]

Super awesome. Thank you for making easy for a non programmer to understand this at a technical and useful way.

[@diegopeart]

Thank you for explaining this in such an easy way to understand.

[@cassondrad2280]

Awesome!. You make it simple to understand. Love it, thank you

[@hunterallen4521]

I finally understand POST and GET after the django tutorial I watched thanks!

[@Prince-ol5zk]

Simple and Sweet explanation

[@chief230]

Best API 101 I’ve seen…. Nicely done guys!

[@suwannak.5755]

Very helpful, simple, easy to understand. Thanks so much🙏

[@brahmareddydareddy2110]

You're a genius and the way you explained was so clear and understandable even for people who are in beginner-level

[@grahammartintimmins8479]

Thank you. That was really helpful and answered several questions I had. Liked & Subscribed.

[@Johan_tube]

I do have lots of questions. Honestly, the learning video enlightened me. Thank you. Super work.

[@kauthamkrishnan982]

The fact he able to write on the glass inverted so we can read it is just stunning!

[@ProjectKneepads]

I've been trying to figure what I need to do for a Python web application I'm building for a CS class. This was very helpful!

[@HipHop-gc3ic]

Can we just appreciate that this guy wrote all this things mirrored ??

[@syedazmeer4598]

Really helps me in understanding REST API. Good job sir

[@praveenbhatia3761]

Awesome best way to explain and understanding for even non-technical/programmer, very simplified way explanation

[@codingin2555]

Woww great explanation in a short time. I love working with APIs

[@AtmaniChouaib]

wow this is one of the best and simple to understand explanations thank you

[@hewhomustnotbenamed3662]

Thanks! That was so clear and comprehensible

[@aae7583]

this was a fantastic use cases. So well developed and communicated. Please make more videos

[@harshpratap1233]

Its very simple, helpful and informative. Thank you....!

[@conorgriffiths2066]

A round of applauds for managing to write backward the entire video :)

[@Grantmoneyx]

Thank you for the simplification of this topic. I appreciate it

[@IBMTechnology]

You're welcome! And thank you for watching! 🙂

[@joaquincataldo8046]

this is such a great explanation in a short amount of time

[@carlosjunior5541]

My Brain just exploded with the best explaination that i've seen about REST/RESTFUL architecture.

[@levon9]

Really liked how CRUD ops were related to the HTTP ops (GET, POST, etc)... thank you for sharing.

[@lanhod]

LOVE the squeaky marker. Makes me feel like i'm interacting in a real classroom