REST is a web service the primary goal of which is to make web services more effective. It allows direct access to applications through a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and can provide the resource in the XML or JSON format, making it more flexible.

The URI is where communication happens between two applications. Think of it as a bridge where the backend and frontend communicate. The client (frontend) requests a resource and returns a response represented by the XML or JSON format. Requesting a resource is used with the following HTTP methods:

GET: This is used to get and read a resource.

POST: This creates a new resource.

PUT: This updates an existing resource.

DELETE: This deletes a resource.