Architectural Styles for APIs.
An architectural style is the predefined solution structure.
There are many different architectural styles for APIs.
The most popular ones are REST, SOAP, and XML-RPC.
A REST (Representational State Transfer) API is an interface that allows you to access the data and functionality of an application.
REST uses an HTTP-based infrastructure.
REST is typically used to retrieve data from a database, or to perform web application actions.
RPC (A Remote Procedure Call) is a communication method that happens between two programs on separate machines.
RPCs allow a program to invoke a function in another program on another machine.
In other words, they allow a program to trigger a subroutine or procedure in another program.
RPCs are often used when there is a need to access functionality in a program that is unavailable locally.
You could also use RPCs to communicate with other programs on the same machine.
A SOAP API (Simple Object Access Protocol API) is a type of API that uses the SOAP protocol to exchange information between two systems.
This is a standard for sending messages across network boundaries using XML.
SOAP allows you to send complex objects back and forth between two programs.
This type of API also helps to ensure that your message will arrive intact at its destination.