What is a REST API? (Build One in 5 Minutes)

I built a REST API that tells dad jokes. Call it with a joke ID and it returns the joke as JSON. That one request is the whole concept. From there: what a REST API actually is, and how to build your own on AWS with API Gateway and Lambda. A REST API explained from the ground up, then built on AWS. It starts with a working dad joke API: call it with a joke ID and it returns the joke as JSON. From there, the concepts: an API as a contract, the four parts of a request (method, path, headers, optional body), the three parts of a response (status code, headers, body), what REST (Representational State Transfer) means in practice, how CRUD maps to GET/POST/PUT/DELETE, the common status codes (200, 404, 400, 500), and why REST being stateless makes Lambda a natural fit. Read the Blog: https://go.aws/4zLMx30 Follow AWS Developers! 🆇 X: https://go.aws/3Vzcp3C 💼 LinkedIn: https://go.aws/477HaPG 0:00 A REST API That Tells Dad Jokes 0:32 What Is an API? (The Contract) 1:12 What REST Actually Means 1:35 CRUD & HTTP Verbs 3:06 The Build: API Gateway + Lambda 5:10 HTTP API vs REST API (Which to Pick) 5:51 The Lambda Handler 6:56 Production Best Practices 7:31 Recap #AWS #RESTAPI #AWSLambda