Besides REST and GraphQL, there are other types of APIs for specific needs.
1. SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
- Format: XML (very verbose/long).
- Character: Extremely strict, formal, and has high security standards.
- Usage: Still commonly used in banking, legacy enterprise systems, and airline systems.
2. gRPC (Google Remote Procedure Call)
- Format: Protocol Buffers (binary, not text).
- Speed: Very fast and lightweight compared to REST JSON.
- Usage: Inter-Microservices communication (backend-to-backend) where speed is everything (e.g., Netflix, Google).
gRPC Diagram