What is a key characteristic of the REST API?

The chosen answer highlights a fundamental aspect of REST APIs, which are indeed the most widely used API for web services. REST, or Representational State Transfer, is an architectural style that leverages standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to interact with web resources. The simplicity and flexibility of REST have made it a preferred choice for developers building web services, as it allows for easy integration and communication between different systems over the internet.

The widespread adoption of REST APIs stems from their ability to utilize existing web standards, making them accessible and usable across various platforms and programming languages. This broad compatibility and the ability to handle different data formats, such as JSON and XML, further enhance their popularity in web development.

In contrast, other choices do not encapsulate key attributes of REST APIs as effectively. For instance, while routing is indeed necessary for data transfer over networks, it is not a defining feature of REST itself. REST operates over HTTP, which is the protocol used for communication, as opposed to being a routing protocol.

Moreover, REST APIs are characterized by stateless communication rather than stateful. Each request from a client to the server must contain all the information the server needs to fulfill the request, meaning that no session state is stored on the