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This article mainly introduces "the method of API development". In the daily operation, I believe that many people have doubts about the method of API development. The editor consulted all kinds of materials and sorted out simple and easy-to-use operation methods. I hope it will be helpful for you to answer the doubts of "API development method"! Next, please follow the editor to study!

1. Introduction of API

API, its full name is Application Programming Interface-- application programming interface, is a set of instructions, standards or requirements, so that software or applications can take advantage of the functions / services of another application, platform or device to obtain better services. In short, it allows applications to communicate with each other. For example, when we use Alipay and Wechat APP, we will request the data on the backend server through API and display it on APP.

API is the basis for all applications that process data or initiate communication between two products or services. It enables mobile applications or platforms to share their data with other applications or platforms and simplifies the user experience without involving developers. Most importantly, API eliminates the need to build similar programs or platforms from scratch. You can use existing applications in some other applications / platforms. For these reasons, application developers and business executives focus on API development.

Before digging deeper, let's take a look at the basic terms that make it easier for you to understand the concept.

II. API terminology

API Key: when an API request identifies the caller by Header or parameter, the authorization code passed to the request is API Key.

Endpoint: when one API interacts with another system, both ends of the communication channel are considered Endpoint.

JSON: is the data format for API request parameters and response bodies.

The HTTP method of GET:RESTful API, which is used to get resources.

The HTTP method of POST:RESTful API, which is used to create resources.

OAuth: it is basically an open standard authorization framework that can be accessed from the client without directly sharing credentials.

REST:REST (Representative State transition) is an implementation of a programming architecture that provides communication efficiency between two devices / systems. It is lightweight, sharing data through data references rather than data copies. The system created based on this architecture is called the "RESTful" system, and the most famous example of the RESTful system is the World wide Web.

SOAP:SOAP or simple object access Protocol is a messaging protocol used to share structured information when performing Web services in a computer network. It is used in conjunction with XML information sets and application layer protocols such as HTTP and SMTP for message format and message negotiation and transport, respectively.

Latency: delay is defined as the total time spent by the API from request to response.

Rate limit: API rate limit is the process of defining the rate at which end users can access API. This means limiting the number of requests a user can send to API at a time.

API current limiting: the process of regulating users' use of API within a specific period of time is called current limiting. This can be used for API restrictions, such as setting a limit of 1000 API requests per day, and when a user clicks 1001 requests, the server returns a HTTP status code of 429 with the message "too many requests".

III. The work flow of API

If you open some travel applications / websites to book a flight, fill out the form-enter departure and return dates, city, flight and other relevant details-and submit it. In just a few seconds, the flight list will be displayed on the screen, along with price, time, seat availability and other details.

In order to provide such strict data, the platform sent a request to the airline's website to access its database and obtain the relevant data through API. In response, the website transmits data to the platform in the form of API, and the platform displays it on the screen. The basic process is as follows:

Here, flight booking applications / platforms and airline websites act as endpoints (EndPoint), while API acts as an intermediary to simplify the data sharing process. When talking about endpoint communication, API comes in two forms, REST and SOAP. Although both approaches can produce effective results, currently mobile application developers prefer to use REST rather than SOAP because SOAP API is onerous and platform-dependent.

Here's how to develop API? Which tools and technologies are selected?

IV. Tools for developing API

There are many tools and techniques available during the development of API. Here are a few popular tools for developing API for developers:

Apigee: it is Google's API management tool that helps developers and entrepreneurs succeed in the digital transformation by re-establishing the API approach.

APIMatic and API Transformer: provides complex auto-generation tools to build high-quality SDK and code snippets in API-specific formats and convert them into other specifications, such as RAML,API Blueprint, and so on.

API Science: this tool is mainly used to evaluate the performance of internal API and external API.

API Serverless Architecture: this product helps mobile application developers design, build, publish, and host API with the help of the cloud's server infrastructure.

API Platform: this is an open source PHP framework for Web API development.

OAuth3: this is an identity management solution for authentication and authorization API.

ClearBlade: this is an API hypervisor that integrates IOT technology into the process.

GitHub: this is an open source Git repository for hosting code services that can submit code, release requests, and version control. You can also save the code in a private repository.

Postman: this is an API toolchain that enables developers to run, test, record, and evaluate the performance of their API.

Fifth, the characteristics of efficient API

Modify timestamps / search by conditions: API should allow users to search for data based on different conditions (such as dates), modify (update, edit and delete) the retrieved data, and record modified timestamps.

Paging: when there is a large amount of data, we don't want to get a complete list of data every time. In this case, API should be able to determine how much data is displayed and the total number of pages at a time, and should also inform the end user of the number of remaining data pages.

Sorting: API shall authorize users to sort data according to modification time or other conditions.

JSON support / REST: try to use RESTful style for effective API development. REST API is stateless and lightweight. In addition, the syntax of JSON is similar to that of most programming languages, which makes it easy for mobile application developers to parse it into any other language.

Authorization via OAuth: because API needs to be exposed, it also needs to be authorized through OAuth-you can do it at the click of a button.

VI. Best practices for building API

Traffic restrictions: traffic restrictions are a good habit to consider traffic overflows and protect them from Dos attacks.

Think of the API gateway as an enhancement point: when setting the application of restriction rules, API keys, and OAuth, the API gateway must be considered as the best implementation point. Only correct and legitimate users can access the following data and can encrypt messages or edit private messages at the gateway to analyze and manage API.

Allow HTTP methods to be overridden: because some proxies only support GET and POST methods, you need to have RESTful API override the HTTP method, and you can use automatic X-HTTP-Method-Override with the HTTP header.

Evaluate API and infrastructure: currently, real-time analysis is possible, but what if the API server has memory leaks, CPU exhaustion, or other problems? Given this situation, there are some tools that can be used to evaluate and troubleshoot API.

Documentation: document for API, using OpenAPI's canonical format, so that other application developers can easily understand the process and use this information to provide a better user experience. In short, good API documentation can reduce project implementation time and provide efficiency in API development.

At this point, the study of "the method of API development" is over. I hope to be able to solve your doubts. The collocation of theory and practice can better help you learn, go and try it! If you want to continue to learn more related knowledge, please continue to follow the website, the editor will continue to work hard to bring you more practical articles!

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