10 REST Programming Books That Separate Experts from Amateurs

When Josh Ponelat, the Swagger Open Source lead, teamed up with API consultant Lukas Rosenstock, they created a guide that takes you through designing APIs using OpenAPI from scratch. You’ll learn to write OpenAPI definitions with Swagger Editor, handle authentication, generate documentation, and even automate backend code generation. It’s especially useful if you want practical knowledge about versioning APIs and collaborating across teams, with clear examples like building a frontend against a mock server in chapter 12. This book fits developers new to API design who want a hands-on approach rather than abstract theory.

Matthias Biehl, with his deep expertise in APIs, AI, and software engineering, draws on years of hands-on experience to guide you through designing RESTful APIs that work in real-world settings. You’ll learn how to apply API description languages like RAML and OpenAPI effectively, manage APIs as products with a customer-centric mindset, and handle the entire API lifecycle from inception through evolution. The book also tackles challenges like connecting APIs to legacy systems and designing scalable microservices APIs, making it a solid choice if you’re aiming to build robust, maintainable interfaces. If you want practical insights into API versioning, performance, and evolution, this book offers clear frameworks without unnecessary jargon.

This personalized book provides a detailed exploration of REST programming principles, emphasizing design, implementation, and best practices tailored to your specific background and goals. It offers a tailored approach that guides you through the essential concepts of REST architecture, resource modeling, HTTP methods, and status codes while addressing common pitfalls and optimization strategies. By focusing on your unique context, it cuts through irrelevant advice to deliver targeted insights on API security, versioning, and documentation. This approach ensures you gain a practical mastery of REST that fits your development environment and project requirements, enabling you to build robust, scalable, and maintainable APIs with confidence.

When Valerio De Sanctis decided to write this book, his extensive two-decade career in web development and leadership roles at financial and insurance firms clearly shaped his approach. You’ll learn how to build robust, secure, and efficient web APIs using ASP.NET Core, starting with environment setup and progressing through data modeling with Entity Framework Core, controller creation, and API documentation with Swagger. The book’s project-based structure walks you through building an API for a board games app, making each chapter feel like a real feature request. If you have some background in .NET and want to deepen your REST and GraphQL API skills, this guide offers concrete, practical insight without unnecessary fluff.

When Mark Winteringham first realized that conventional web API testing often misses nuanced quality and risk factors, he set out to fill this gap with Testing Web APIs. Drawing from his role as OpsBoss at Ministry of Testing, he guides you through designing a robust API testing strategy that goes beyond simple coverage to embrace risk-driven testing and collaborative design discussions. You’ll learn to implement automation suites, explore contract testing with Pact, and even conduct performance and security tests tailored to your APIs. This book suits software QA professionals and developers eager to deepen their testing skills and build reliable, production-ready APIs.

When William S. Vincent set out to write this book, he drew on his extensive experience as founder of LearnDjango and a former Django Software Foundation Board Member to focus on practical REST API development using Python and Django 2.1. You’ll gain hands-on skills building three distinct APIs—a Library API, Todo API, and Blog API—each layered with key features like user authentication, permissions, and comprehensive documentation. The chapters walk you through connecting these back-ends to a React front-end, offering a full-stack perspective rarely found in similar texts. This book suits developers looking to deepen their understanding of API-first design within the Django ecosystem, especially those ready to move beyond basics into scalable, user-centric web services.

This personalized book provides a tailored approach to rapidly building production-ready REST APIs within 30 days. It offers a step-by-step plan focusing on critical development phases including API design principles, secure authentication, endpoint implementation, testing strategies, and deployment workflows. By cutting through generic advice, it fits your specific context—whether your background is beginner or intermediate—and concentrates on practical, daily actionable tasks that ensure steady progress toward a working API. The content addresses common pitfalls and integrates best practices for robust, scalable APIs, enabling you to efficiently translate API theory into a deployable product without the distraction of unrelated material.

Unlike most REST programming books that simply introduce concepts, Xiaodi Yan brings decades of hands-on experience as a Microsoft MVP and Azure Solutions Architect to demystify building modern web APIs with ASP.NET Core 8. You’ll learn concrete techniques for leveraging advanced protocols like SignalR, gRPC, and GraphQL, alongside practical skills such as implementing design patterns, securing APIs, and integrating cloud CI/CD workflows. For example, chapters on Entity Framework Core dive deeply into database relationships, while sections on Azure DevOps show how to streamline deployment. If you want to build scalable, maintainable APIs using the latest .NET ecosystem tools, this book equips you with the depth and breadth to succeed.

Unlike most programming books that dive straight into code, Tony Gaitatzis draws from his deep expertise in web development and computer science to clarify the underpinnings of REST APIs and their role in the Internet of Things. You’ll get a precise explanation of how REST APIs function with HTTP, the anatomy of requests and responses, and practical best practices for CRUD operations. Chapters like "Status messages" and "Where to find REST APIs" provide concrete insights that demystify the ecosystem. This book suits anyone aiming to build scalable, efficient applications by mastering REST API fundamentals, from beginners to intermediate developers seeking clarity on this essential technology.

When Moisés Macero García first realized the complexity behind evolving monolithic applications into microservices, he crafted this book to guide developers through that transformation using Spring Boot. This book teaches you how to build microservices incrementally, focusing on practical techniques like event-driven architecture with RabbitMQ, service discovery via Eureka, load balancing with Ribbon, and routing with Zuul. Instead of theoretical debates, you engage with hands-on examples such as writing end-to-end tests with Cucumber and implementing continuous integration workflows. If you have some Java background and want an accessible way to master microservices development, this book is a straightforward companion that keeps your focus on building workable, scalable services.

Modern API Design with ASP.NET Core 2 guides you through building robust, cross-platform web APIs using Microsoft’s redesigned framework. Drawing from his extensive software engineering background, Fanie Reynders moves beyond theory to show how to create scalable, secure RESTful services with practical examples like integrating Swagger for API documentation and implementing authentication via ASP.NET Identity. You'll gain hands-on skills in deploying APIs to diverse environments including Windows, Linux, and Azure, and learn testing strategies to ensure code quality. This book suits developers aiming to master modern REST API design within the ASP.NET ecosystem and build cloud-ready backend systems.

When Bill Burke first discovered the intricacies of RESTful web services, his deep involvement with JBoss and RESTEasy shaped this practical guide. You learn how to implement RESTful services in Java using JAX-RS 2.0, exploring key features like asynchronous HTTP, filters, and interceptors. The book doesn’t just explain theory—it walks you through configuring and running real examples, including an e-commerce order entry system design. If you’re working with Java EE7 or integrating with Spring and JPA, this book offers concrete insights on performance optimization, HTTP caching, and authentication techniques like OAuth 2.0.