How to create a REST API for a Ruby application?

Question

I would like to know how to provide a Ruby application with a REST API. I could code something based on Ruby's TCPServer API, but that seems a bit low-level. Do you think it would be a good solution? Or do you recommend a better approach?

Answer 1

For simple REST APIs I would also consider working directly against the Rack library (i.e. you may not need a framework like Sinatra). Routing for example can be quite easy for simple cases. I've put together a little example here: https://gist.github.com/4685445

Answer 2

You can use Sinatra to write tiny, focused web applications and lightweight REST services very quickly.

In the documentation section they highlight a couple of videos on that matter:

• Adam Wiggins and Blake Mizerany present Sinatra and RestClient at RubyConf 2008. The talk details Sinatra’s underlying philosophy and reflects on using Sinatra to build real world applications.

• Adam Keys and The Pragmatic Programmers have started a series of screencasts on Sinatra. The first two episodes cover creating a tiny web app and creating a REST service. $5 a pop.

You can also use rails as well, but that's a little overkill...