Which is better solution - having separate model class against each REST API or keep adding info in single object?

Question

I have a class Person.

Person {
 String firstName;
 String lastName;
 String Date dob;
 String email;
 String mobileNumber;
 String address;
}

To add a person, I have following REST APIs:

1. POST /person

   {
   "firstName":"Donald",
   "lastName":"Trump",
   "dob":"01/01/1990"
   }
   

2. PUT /person/{id}/addContact

   {
   "email":"[email protected]",
   "mobileNumber":"+1-123-456-789"
   }
   

3. PUT /person/{id}/addAddress

   {
   "address":"white house"
   }
   

Now there are two ways to do that -

1. Use same Person class and keep adding new information in the same object from API 1, 2 and 3.

2. Create separate models for all three APIs.

   PersonMain {
    String firstName;
    String lastName;
    String Date dob;
   } 
   
   PersonContact {
    String email;
    String mobileNumber;
   }
   
   PersonAddress {
    String address;
   }
   

Finally, we also need our main Person class because all that information is going into single Person table and finally this whole Person object will be used at every place.

What do you think which approach is good and why?

Answer 1

Conceptually, you're probably coupling data model and REST resources too much.

1. Use same Person class and keep adding new information in the same object from API 1, 2 and 3.

2. Create separate models for all three APIs.

Regardless of the REST resources, I would choose option 2, not "for all 3 API's" but because Person, Contact and Address are separate business concepts and they deserve their own (Value) Object.

As a side note regarding your URIs, to me, "add something" is almost always going to be a POST. In other words, 2. and 3. are not REST idiomatic.