8 REST API Books That Separate Experts from Amateurs

Matthias Biehl's deep technical background and extensive experience in APIs and software engineering shape this focused guide on RESTful API design. You’ll learn how to apply best practices for resource modeling, URI structuring, HTTP methods, and status codes, supported by concrete examples of API description languages like RAML and OpenAPI. The book also delves into managing the entire API lifecycle, from inception to versioning, with attention to customer-centric product management and scalable microservices architectures. If you're aiming to build APIs that are maintainable, performant, and designed with real users in mind, this book offers clear, practical insights without unnecessary jargon.

JJ Geewax draws on his extensive experience at Google to clarify the complexities of API design, focusing on both internal and public-facing interfaces. You’ll learn concrete principles such as resource naming conventions, data handling across languages, authentication methods, and advanced patterns like partial updates and request deduplication. The book includes concrete case studies illustrating these patterns in action, making it easier to grasp how to build consistent, scalable APIs. If you’re tasked with designing APIs that need to be flexible yet reliable, this book offers a thorough grounding without overpromising — it’s especially valuable for developers comfortable with web API concepts who want to deepen their design skill set.

This tailored book explores the essentials and advanced concepts of REST API design, security, and deployment with a focus on your specific interests and background. It examines core principles like resource modeling, HTTP methods, and statelessness, then delves deeply into securing APIs through authentication, authorization, and threat mitigation techniques. The book also reveals practical approaches for deploying APIs in real-world environments, ensuring scalability and reliability. By matching your goals and skill level, this personalized guide helps you navigate complex topics efficiently, offering a clear pathway through the collective knowledge of REST API development and operation. It combines foundational understanding with targeted coverage to empower your mastery of REST APIs.

The breakthrough moment came when Subbu Allamaraju, drawing from years of hands-on experience at eBay and Yahoo!, compiled a practical guide to tackle the complexities of RESTful web services. You’ll learn how to design scalable and reliable REST APIs with over 100 detailed recipes covering resource modeling, URI design, caching strategies, concurrency control, security with OAuth, and more. Specific chapters delve into advanced scenarios like batch processing and partial updates, making this book useful whether you’re implementing client or server applications across various frameworks. If you’re aiming to deepen your understanding of REST beyond theory and want actionable solutions grounded in real-world constraints, this book is a solid fit.

When William S. Vincent decided to write this guide, his aim was to demystify the process of building RESTful APIs using Django and Python. You’ll walk through creating three distinct back-ends—a Library API, a Todo API, and a Blog API—each illustrating essential concepts like user authentication, permissions, and documentation. The book even covers connecting these APIs to a React front-end, giving you a full-stack perspective. If you’re looking to deepen your API development skills with practical Django implementations, this book offers clear, focused chapters like "Viewsets and Routers" and "Schemas and Documentation" to sharpen your toolkit. However, if you’re after only high-level theory, this hands-on approach might feel detailed.

Tony Gaitatzis brings his deep web development expertise to this focused guide on REST APIs, driven by a desire to demystify how these interfaces power the Internet of Things. You’ll get a clear breakdown of REST fundamentals, including the anatomy of requests and responses, status codes, and practical uses of HTTP with REST. The chapters on CRUD operations and locating APIs stand out for their hands-on clarity, making it easier to grasp application building. If you’re aiming to understand REST APIs beyond buzzwords and want straightforward insights into integrating them effectively, this book is tailored for you.

This tailored book explores a hands-on, 30-day coding system designed to help you build and launch REST APIs effectively. It focuses on your interests and background, providing a step-by-step journey through core REST API concepts, practical coding examples, and real-world applications. By concentrating on your specific goals, it reveals how to construct APIs that perform reliably under diverse conditions. The book covers everything from API design principles to implementation details, making complex topics approachable through personalized explanations and tailored examples. This approach ensures you gain both practical skills and deep understanding, making your learning experience efficient and engaging.

What happens when a seasoned JavaScript developer tackles API construction? Gustavo Morales leverages his deep experience with Node.js, Express, and Prisma to guide you through building a fully functional API from scratch. You’ll learn not only how to set up endpoints and manage data persistence with Prisma as your ORM but also how to implement authentication via JSON Web Tokens, validation, security measures, and logging. The book’s focus on practical implementation over theory makes it especially suitable if you want hands-on skills to create robust, flexible APIs tailored for real-world applications. If you’re looking for a conceptual overview rather than direct coding instruction, this may not be your go-to.

What happens when deep expertise in ASP.NET meets the challenge of securing modern RESTful services? Badrinarayanan Lakshmiraghavan brings his extensive background in web security to explore how traditional WCF security falls short in today's diverse device ecosystem. You learn to implement SOAP-less security methods tailored for ASP.NET Web API that integrate smoothly with MVC patterns, enabling protection across platforms ranging from smartphones to RFID readers. The book delves into authentication, authorization, and token management techniques, with practical examples demonstrating how to safeguard HTTP-based services effectively. If you develop or architect web APIs and want to understand how to secure them without legacy constraints, this book offers focused insights without unnecessary complexity.

Drawing from decades of experience as a JBoss contributor and architect, Bill Burke offers a practical dive into designing RESTful web services in Java using the JAX-RS 2.0 specification. You’ll find detailed explanations on implementing REST principles with Java EE 7, plus hands-on examples like building a distributed e-commerce order system. The clear focus on applying features such as asynchronous HTTP, client APIs, and HTTP caching protocols means you come away with concrete skills for real-world development, not just theory. This book suits Java developers ready to deepen their understanding of REST APIs within enterprise environments.