Client API and client libraries

The RESTful server API

Clients interact with the RESTx server by means of a straight-forward REST API, which supports the discovery of available components and resources, the creation of new resources and their use. Any HTTP client can easily communicate with RESTx and we demonstrate this interaction with a simple telnet session. However, the RESTful API can also be utilized simply via a web browser.

Client libraries

While it is possible to write client applications just with the help of an HTTP library, it is of course also possible to wrap these REST interactions into a convenience library, which simplifies the task of writing client software even further. RESTx comes with reference implementations for a client library for Java and Python. Those libraries represent certain choices about how to interact with the server. Completely different styles of client libraries are also conceivable. Other client libraries - in either Java, Python or other languages - may chose to implement their interfaces around the RESTful server API differently.

Links

• The RESTful server API and interactions at the core of the RESTx API.
• The RESTx Java client library
• The RESTx Python client library