Self-Directed Professional Development Post #7
For my last blog post, I’ve decided to review an article titled, “HTTP Methods” from the website, https://restfulapi.net/http-methods. The reason I picked this article is because 1. it directly relates to one of our course topics, “REST API Design” and 2. it helps me further prepare and review for my upcoming final exam. In addition to the resources that I have from the class POGIL activities, I wanted to find another resource to solidify my understanding of HTTP methods. In this post, I will start by going over the 5 HTTP methods and the information I’ve gleaned by reading this article, and then I will move onto a reflection on how effective this article was in helping me learn this course topic.
In the list of review topics for my upcoming exam, I’m asked to know what the HTTP methods are used for and how they differ depending on whether I am referencing an entire collection or a single element in a collection. In the article that I’ve selected to read, the HTTP GET method is discussed first. I’m reminded that the GET method is used to retrieve information and that it can be used for both a collection and a single resource. This lines up pretty well with what we have learned from our class activity 12 (see table in Wikipedia citation below). Next, HTTP POST is brought up in the article and we learn that it is used to create a new resource in a collection. We are encouraged not to use POST on a single resource/element and this corresponds with the information from activity 12. Subsequently, the article discusses the HTTP PUT method. We learn that PUT is used to update an existing resource or create it if it does not already exist. PUT methods can be used on both elements and collections (this also matches up with the information learned in activity 12). In fourth place, the article discusses the HTTP DELETE method, one of the more straightforward methods, that can delete single elements or an entire collection. Lastly, with HTTP PATCH, we learn that it can be used to make a partial update on a resource and that it is usually used on elements. Personally, I preferred the description of this method over the one given in activity 12 but the article did support the point that PATCH is not usually used on an entire collection.
Finally, once I was done reading/taking notes on the article, I felt even more confident in my understanding of HTTP methods. I thought the article was both straightforward and educational, and therefore effective. The language was easy to understand and it provided me with another perspective to learn the class material. I would recommend this article to anyone else who is learning about HTTP methods for the first time or simply needs a refresher on the topic.
Article:
https://restfulapi.net/http-methods/
Wikipedia link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Representational_state_transfer&oldid=866461276
