# REST API glossary: Novice level

12 REST API terms at the Novice level, each with a short definition and a link to its full page.

Updated: September 27, 2026

[Study these as flash cards](https://www.ask-codey.com/decks/rest-api/novice)

- [API](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/api): A set of rules that lets one program ask another for data or actions.
- [Client and Server](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/client-and-server): The client asks; the server answers.
- [Endpoint](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/endpoint-rest-api): One address an API offers: a method plus a path.
- [HTTP](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/http): The request-and-response language of the web.
- [HTTPS](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/https): HTTP over an encrypted connection.
- [JSON](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/json): The text format most APIs use for data.
- [Request](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/request): What the client sends: method, URL, headers and an optional body.
- [Resource](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/resource-rest-api): A thing an API lets you work with, identified by a URL.
- [Response](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/response-web-development): What the server sends back: a status code, headers and usually a body.
- [REST](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/rest): An API style built around resources with URLs, used through standard HTTP methods.
- [URL](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/url): The full address of a resource on the web.
- [Web API](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/web-api): An API you call over HTTP, usually getting JSON back.

- Next level: [Apprentice](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/subjects/rest-api/apprentice)

[Every REST API term, by level](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/subjects/rest-api)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/subjects/rest-api/novice