𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐀𝐏𝐈 𝐯𝐬 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐏𝐈 — What’s the Difference?

One thing I see quite often when people start building APIs with Python is confusion between FastAPI and REST API.

In reality, they are not the same thing.

𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐏𝐈 is an architectural approach for designing APIs around resources, HTTP methods, stateless communication, and standard HTTP responses.

𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐀𝐏𝐈 is a Python web framework that helps you build APIs.

For example, in an AI application, I might have:

GET /documents
𝙶𝙴𝚃 /𝚍𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜
𝙿𝙾𝚂𝚃 /𝚍𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜
𝙶𝙴𝚃 /𝚍𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜/{𝚒𝚍}
𝙿𝚄𝚃 /𝚍𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜/{𝚒𝚍}
𝙳𝙴𝙻𝙴𝚃𝙴 /𝚍𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜/{𝚒𝚍}

These endpoints can follow 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 principles.

𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐀𝐏𝐈 is the tool I use to implement them in Python.

So, a simple way to remember it:

𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 = how the API is designed
𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐀𝐏𝐈 = the framework used to build it

𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐀𝐏𝐈 also gives us useful features such as request validation, automatic API documentation, dependency injection, and strong support for asynchronous applications.

Understanding this distinction makes it much easier to understand 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐀𝐏𝐈 and, more importantly, to design APIs properly.

𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐀𝐏𝐈 Fundamentals: Build Your First AI API | Python FastAPI Course (An Overview of API): https://youtu.be/vvP9GIWSews

#FastAPI #Python #RESTAPI #APIDevelopment #AI #MachineLearning #BackendDevelopment