Difference Between RestAPI and Restful webservices

Question

I am new to web-services. Could someone help me in understanding the difference between REST API and a Restful web-service in java. I have developed a web-application which is based on only servlets and jsp. Now the same application has to be developed using REST API. What is the difference between developing a web app with just servlets and jsp and developing a webapp with REST API. Can someone provide links to good tutorials where I can learn more about REST API with samples.

Answer 1

A RESTful web API (also called a RESTful web service) is a web API implemented using HTTP and REST principles. It is a collection of resources

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer

Sometimes, some organization might show little difference, Between REST API and Restful web services. For eg, Rest API might be common for everyone to use the data with same endpoint.

Restful web services may comes with custom modification for specific requirement and endpoint will be different.