HTTP Methods

Question 1

GET

Answer 1

• retrieve information
• must be safe and idempotent
  
  • meaning regardless of how many times it repeats with the same parameters, the results are the same
• can have side effects, but the user doesn’t expect them, so they cannot be critical to the operation of the system
• requests can also be partial or conditional

Question 2

POST

Answer 2

• request that the resource at the URI do something with the provided entity
• often used to create a new entity, but it can also be used to update an entity

Question 3

PUT

Answer 3

• store an entity at a URI
• PUT can create a new entity or update an existing one
• PUT request is idempotent
  
  • Idempotency is the main difference between PUT versus a POST request
• e.g. modify the address with an ID of 1

Question 4

PATCH

Answer 4

• update only the specified fields of an entity at a uri
• is neither safe nor idempotent
• because it cannot ensure the entire resource has been updated

Question 5

DELETE

Answer 5

• request that a resource be removed
• resource does not have to be removed immediately
• it could be an asynchronous or long-running request