We recommend the following:

• Read the Quick Start section of the Force.com REST API Developer Guide. It provides important information about configuring your Salesforce environment and protecting your organization’s live data before you start using the Salesforce REST APIs.

• Before making any changes to your production organization in Salesforce, test them in a sandbox first. For more information, see Develop with Sandbox and Quick Start: Using a Sandbox and Change Sets in the Salesforce Development Lifecycle Guide.

• Learn about the key concepts of Financials, the Force.com platform, and the Force.com REST API. For details, see Learning resources.

• Check out the tools for working with REST APIs. For details, see Useful tools.