Modern API Architectural Styles

This chapter complements Chapter 5, API-Led Architecture Patterns, by discussing in more detail the different modern API architectural styles, such as Representational State Transfer (REST), Graph Query Language (GraphQL), and Google Remote Procedure Calls (gRPC), that were briefly mentioned in the patterns illustrated. This chapter accomplishes this by first delivering a point of view on the application interface protocols and standards that have led to modern APIs. Next, the chapter will elaborate on their unique characteristics, their pros and cons, and when to (or not to) use each of them.