ASP.NET Web API
What is ASP .net Web API
ASP.NET Web API. ASP.NET Web API is a framework that makes it easy to build HTTP services that reach a broad range of clients, including browsers and mobile devices. ASP.NET Web API is an ideal platform for building RESTful applications on the .NET Framework.
The term API stands for ‘Application Programming Interface’. In the world of web development the term ‘API’ is synonymous with online web services which client apps can use to retrieve and update data. These online services have had several names/formats over the years such as SOAP, however the current popular choice is to create a REST (or RESTful) API.
What is .net Web API?
.Net’s Web API is an easy way to implement a RESTful web service using all of the goodness that the .net framework provides. Once you understand the basic principles of REST, then a .net Web API will be very easy to implement.
Web API is built on .net’s modular, pluggable pipeline model. This means that when a server hosting a web API receives a request, it passes through .nets request pipeline first. This enables you to easily add your own modules if you find that the default capabilities are not enough for your needs. With the recent announcements on ASP.net vNext this also means you can potentially host your Web API outside of Windows Server which opens up a whole range of usage cases.