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I was under the assumption that REST was a web service but it seems that I am incorrect in thinking this – so, what is REST?
I’ve read through Wikipedia but still cant quite wrap my head around it. Why to do many places refer to API’s as REST API’s?
REST is not a specific web service but a design concept (architecture) for managing state information. The seminal paper on this was Roy Thomas Fielding’s dissertation (2000), "Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures" (available online from the University of California, Irvine).
First read Ryan Tomayko’s post How I explained REST to my wife; it’s a great starting point. Then read Fielding’s actual dissertation. It’s not that advanced, nor is it long (six chapters, 180 pages)! (I know you kids in school like it short).
EDIT: I feel it’s pointless to try to explain REST. It has so many concepts like scalability, visibility (stateless) etc. that the reader needs to grasp, and the best source for understanding those are the actual dissertation. It’s much more than POST/GET etc.