Stateless vs. Stateful API Design
Examine the impact of stateless and stateful design on API scalability, emphasizing the benefits of statelessness for distributed systems.
Understanding API State
When we talk about an API's 'state', we're referring to any data or context that the API remembers about a client or an ongoing interaction.
This remembered information can influence how the API processes future requests from that same client.
What is a Stateless API?
A stateless API is one where each request from a client to the server contains all the information needed to process that request.
The server doesn't store any client-specific data or 'session' information between requests. Every request is treated as if it's the first one.
All lessons in this course
- Understanding API Scalability
- Key Scalability Metrics
- Stateless vs. Stateful API Design
- Horizontal vs. Vertical Scaling