What are the best practices for designing RESTful APIs?

Short answer: Use resource-based URLs (/users/1/orders) not action-based (/getUserOrders). ● Return proper status codes (200, 201, 400, 404, 500). Support pagination & filtering for large data. Implement authentication & authorization (JWT, OAuth2). Ensure statelessness. Provide versioning (v1, v2). Secure API with HTTPS only.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

Creating an order is POST /api/orders → 201 with Location header. Fetching is GET /api/orders/{id} → 200 or 404.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.