An outage has halted automated access to congressional data, raising questions about whether the breakdown stems from a glitch or something more serious. The change came to light on Friday.

This RESTful API quiz for developers will see how well you know RESTful web services and the history behind the architectural style.

Understanding idempotence, and how it applies to the most commonly used HTTP methods, is an important part of effective RESTful API design.

APIs seem to be everywhere these days. Every popular online service has one. APIs allow developers to interact with online services without actually having to point and click their way through a UI.