API Development: Complete guide to building robust APIs
Tags: api, graphql, uiweekly
Published: 2021-06-01 12:11:27

What is API?

Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of requirements, instructions, and standards that allow an application to employ services or features of some other device, application, or platform for providing better services.

Technically speaking, it happens to be a collection of programming codes that enables data transmission between one particular software product with another. It likewise comprises terms of this data exchange.

Application programming interfaces have a couple of components:

    Technical specification depicting data exchange options between solutions having specifications performed as data delivery protocols.

    Application interface written to the specification representing it.

In this, the application requiring access functionality or information from software calls its API, denoting the specifications as to how the data or the functionality should be provided. The other application just returns data functionality as demanded by the previous application. API likewise denotes the interface using which both applications communicate.

Every API is executed by function calls, which happen to be the language statements used to request software to perform specific actions and services. Functions calls are phrases that consist of verbs and nouns. Function calls are likewise mentioned in the API documentation.

APIs can serve several purposes. In general, they will be able to simplify or speed up application development. Developers make use of APIs for adding functionality to the present solutions from other providers. Moreover, one can also use them for developing new applications by making use of third-party providers.

 
Terminology

APIs are essential for developing mobile apps. For example, iOS and Android APIs enable native apps to access built-in features of devices. Consequently, here we have mentioned some terms that you need to comprehend before looking at the significance of API development.
1. API key

An API key happens to be a code that approves an API request via a parameter or header.

 
2. Endpoint

In an interaction between 2 systems using APIs, one end of the channel has been branded Endpoint.

 
3. JSON

JSON happens to be an abbreviation for JavaScript Object Notion. Being a data format, it is employed for API response body and request parameters.

 
4. Get

It is the HTTP method of the RESTful API for safeguarding resources.

 
5. Post

It is how the HTTP method of RESTful API enables resource building.

 
6. Oauth

Oauth is an abbreviation for Open standard Authorization framework that allows access from the user’s side without sharing any credential.

 
7. Rest

REST (Representational State Transfer) is a kind of architectural implementation for improving communication between various applications. It is based on the concept of making particular info obtainable only when requested via references, rather than an entire copy of the information. World Wide Web happens to be an example of those systems which follow this architecture, and these are known as RESTful systems.


 
8. Soap

SOAP is an abbreviation for Simple Object Access Protocol. This messaging protocol works with application layer protocols such as SMTP and HTTP, and XML information set for message formatting plus transmission and negotiation.

 
9. Latency

Latency happens to be the time consumed by an API for processing the request into a response.

 
10. Rate-limiting

API rate-limiting is considered to be the procedure of identifying the rate at which a user accesses APIs. That is to say, it limits the number of requests to an API per time.

 
11. API throttling

Throttling is referred to as regulating the usage of API every user at a particular time. It takes place when a user exceeds the limit of API requests each day, and the server delivers a message as HTTP status asserting “too many requests.”

Learn more here How does API work? https://www.rlogical.com/blog/api-development-complete-guide-to-building-robust-apis/