RESTful Web Services with Scala

Learn the art of creating scalable RESTful web services with Scala

About This Book

• This is the only book on the market that will help you create scalable RESTful web services using five popular Scala-based REST frameworks
• Quickly identify the best framework for a specific problem and select the most appropriate solution to suit your requirements
• This practical guide will help you implement a complete REST-based API from scratch

Who This Book Is For

If you are a Scala developer with some Scala experience and you want to get an overview of the frameworks that are available in the Scala world, then this book is perfect for you. You need to have a general knowledge of REST and Scala. This book is great for senior Scala (or other language) developers who are looking for a good REST framework to use together with Scala.

What You Will Learn

• Set up a development environment to easily develop and test REST services
• Discover the different ways in which you can create REST services with Scala
• See and explore the different approaches taken by popular REST frameworks
• Get to know more about a variety of available Scala frameworks such as Finch, Unfiltered, Scalatra, Akka-HTTP, and Play
• Discover how to create a REST service on top of each framework discussed in this book
• Create HTTP clients using the frameworks in this book
• Make an informed decision about which framework to use in a specific situation
• Set up authentication for your REST services

In Detail

RESTful web services are built to work best on the web. Scala provides a rich set of language constructs and advanced frameworks that you can use to create REST services. However, using Scala and these tools can be a complex task. There are many frameworks available and choosing the wrong framework or approach can cost a lot of time and lead to much frustration. By exploring the most popular Scala REST frameworks, you can make sure you choose the right tool.

RESTful Web Services with Scala begins with a brief explanation of the REST architecture and its implementation in Scala, as well as the impact that REST architecture has on Scala applications. You will understand the advantages of building Scala web services and how existing Scala applications can take advantage of REST. This book will teach developers about the different programming paradigms available in the Scala world to create RESTful services by exploring the most popular Scala-oriented REST frameworks. It discusses the various facets of RESTful web services such as building scalable APIs, working with standards like HTTP and MIME, designing the architecture, securing the web service, and more.

With this book, you will be able to build RESTful web services with various Scala frameworks such as Finch, Unfiltered, Scalatra, Akka-HTTP, and Play. You will create basic REST services using frameworks and then extend the REST services with custom functionality. By the end of the book, you'll be able to decide which framework is best suited for your requirements. We finish by looking at how we can use a number of advanced features provided by these frameworks, such as security, creating HTTP clients, working with HATEOAS, and more.

Style and approach

This book follows a practical approach where we implement a REST API using each of the frameworks discussed. This book is filled with rich examples and code so you can understand and implement the features of every framework.