Moving from REST to GraphQL
By: Harsh Patel
Tags: Development, GraphQL, Programming, Software Engineering, Rest

Nowadays mostly backend works with REST APIs because it’s more flexible than SOAP. REST has been around for a long time, and today it’s still the most widely-accepted way to write an API. REST is a specification that sits on top of HTTP. API calls are structured around objects (like profiles, preferences, and templates) using dedicated HTTP endpoints. For example, if you wanted to expose a way to programmatically manipulate your user profiles, you might have a REST endpoint /user/{userId} which can be queried to perform CRUD operations using HTTP GET , POST , DELETE , etc. Writing a REST API is pretty straightforward – but REST can be tricky to use as an API consumer.

First, REST was not built for complex performance sequences that do not fit well in the CRUD bucket. It is not easy to update two items simultaneously, for example, and retrieving data in certain situations may require as many calls and branch idea as one last point may be required to call another. Another disadvantage of REST puts a heavy burden on the consumer API (either your internal engineers or your customers) to know how basic data is structured. That is wrong for a number of reasons.

API calls are not directed at the normal actions the user wants to perform. They are tightly packed around your belongings. That means someone may need to call the same REST endpoint to set up a label and add an editor, even if these are two completely different cases of use. Another reason it is not a good idea to set up your API around how your data is organized is that things are changing. Changes to your data are unavoidable and it is difficult to sync REST APIs to these changes.

A short intro to GraphQL

It’s simply a query language, it serves what you ask, simple as that. GraphQL is the language for asking for information from third-party applications. In the background, GraphQL specifies in the API how to present data to the client. GraphQL redefines the work of developers with APIs that provide more flexibility and speed in the market; improves customer-server interaction by enabling pre-configured for specific data requests and not getting more or less, but exactly what they need.

Why switch from REST to GraphQL

As you might know, that GraphQL is based on a query, mainly it’s a query language, which is best suited for API engineers. Based on the idea that the API consumer should not know anything about how data is stored internally. Instead, you define a schema related to your data and the buyer may ask for that data embedded in a fixed storage location. GQL is also compatible with the concept of CQRS, or the division of queries — to put it simply, means that the way you ask for data is different than the way you convert data.

One of my favorite things about GraphQL, as a side effect of using it, is that you are forced to live by some of those software engineering rules that you should be living by. You need to think about your details completely and not just end up with a bunch of poorly designed points lying around as a result of the shortcuts you took to meet the last days.

Because of its design, GraphQL is very good at rendering translation: you can mark performance as reduced and you can change the underlying infrastructure without breaking the existing integration (even without the consumer knowing). GraphQL also has a solid layer of temporary storage, which reduces our total operating costs because we end up hitting our database too hard.

Advantages of GraphQL compared to RESET

As REST and GQL both definitions for building and feeds APIs, GraphQL and REST have similarities. Both retrieve resources by sending queries, can retrieve JSON data on request, and work with HTTP. Also, REST endpoints are similar to GraphQL fields, in that they are data entry-intensive data server applications.

However, the significant difference begins with conceptual models: While REST is made up of files, GraphQL is made up of graphs. In addition, we will talk about how GraphQL differs from REST, and how it transforms the developer experience of building and implementing an API.

Conclusion

As you read above that graphQL has more power than the REST API, but sometimes for a small app, it may be not suitable. Now when you start building your next web app you can give precedence to the query language rather than using the same. eventually, it will be beneficial for you and your strategy. GraphQL is so strong that nowadays teach giants like Twitter & Pinterest plus many more tech giants using the same.

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Harsh Patel | Full-Stack Developer | http://imharshpatel.com