The recipe offers two ways to implement REST services using Spring Boot 2.0, and that is through the use of the @RestController and Spring REST module. The only difference between the two is that @RestController requires Spring MVC setup in order to generate endpoints, while Spring Data REST is tied up with Spring Data JPA, so endpoints are generated at the repository configuration.

The @GetMapping and @PostMapping annotations are new additions to the mapping libraries that can be applied to @RestController transactions. If the handler needs to produce data objects using the GET method, @GetMapping is applied. If the request transaction needs to consume data objects using the POST method, @PostMapping is used instead.

Implementing REST services in reactive applications is very important, especially if the main goal is building microservice architecture.