HomeCoursesDesign and Build Great Web APIs

Intermediate

28h

Updated 2 months ago

Design and Build Great Web APIs

Gain insights into designing robust APIs, explore essential tools for design, documentation, testing, and deployment. Delve into ALPS, OpenAPI, Postman, and Heroku for comprehensive API development.

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Overview

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At the start of this course, you’ll be introduced to a handful of important practices and principles for designing and building APIs that are robust, reliable, and resilient. You’ll also acquire skills in a wide range of developer tools, including tools for design, documentation, building, testing, security, and deployment. You'll learn the best practices for modeling an APIs lifecycle using Donald Norman’s action lifecycle. Then, you’ll learn how to use the sequence diagram for designing APIs and describing them using ALPS. For sketching an API, you will learn about Gehry's sketches. You will also cover OpenAPI and SwaggerHub for API mocking. Moreover, the usage of DARRT and NodeJS will be covered for building APIs. You'll finish with learning how to use the Postman for testing APIs and then deploy them using Heroku. By the end of this course, you will have an in-depth understanding of how to make fully functional efficient APIs from its inception to its deployment.

At the start of this course, you’ll be introduced to a handful of important practices and principles for designing and building ...Show More

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

A working knowledge of HTTP, REST and APIs

Hands-on experience of modeling, designing, and describing APIs

The ability to sketch and prototype APIs

Familiarity with testing and securely deploying APIs

A working knowledge of HTTP, REST and APIs

Content

113 Lessons14 Quizzes

Introduction

7 Lessons

Get familiar with designing effective APIs, adopting API-first principles, and using curl.

Introduction to the Course

Adopting the API First Principle

Exploring APIs with curl

Summary

Quiz: Adopting and Exploring APIs

Challenge: API Calls with curl

Solution: API Calls with curl

Understanding HTTP, REST, and APIs

8 Lessons

Grasp the fundamentals of HTTP, REST principles, Git usage, and GitHub repository management.

Understanding Web API Protocols, Practices, and Styles

The Web and the REST API

Managing Files with Git

Creating a Public GitHub Project

Summary

Quiz: HTTP, REST, and APIs

Challenge: Understanding HTTP, REST, and APIs

Solution: Understanding HTTP, REST, and APIs

Modeling APIs

9 Lessons

Master the steps to model APIs effectively using workflows, user stories, and npm tools.

Understanding the Norman’s Action Cycle

Modeling Our Onboarding API Cycle

Writing an API Story

Creating Our npm Package

Managing Our Project with npm

Summary

Quiz: Modeling APIs

Challenge: Modeling APIs

Solution: Modeling APIs

Designing APIs

8 Lessons

Enhance your skills in consistent API design, using structured methods, diagrams, and user-focused terminology.

The Power of Design

The API Design Method

Identifying API Descriptors

Creating Our Sequence Diagrams for an API Design

Summary

Quiz: Designing APIs

Challenge: Designing APIs

Solution: Designing APIs

Describing APIs

7 Lessons

Take a closer look at documenting API designs using ALPS, including practical implementation and version control.

Learning the Role of Description Formats

Describing our API with ALPS

Updating an API Project

Summary

Quiz: Describing APIs

Challenge: Describing APIs

Solution: Describing APIs

Sketching APIs

9 Lessons

Follow the process of sketching APIs for efficient design, refinement, and testing.

Learning from Frank Gehry’s Sketches

API Sketching Example

The Advantages of Sketching

Sketching APIs with the Apiary Editor

API Sketching Tips and Tricks

Summary

Quiz: Sketching APIs

Challenge: Sketching APIs

Solution: Sketching APIs

Prototyping APIs

12 Lessons

Build on creating thorough API prototypes using OpenAPI, SwaggerHub, and ReDocly tools.

What is an API Prototype?

API Prototyping with OpenAPI

Translating API Design into HTTP

Introduction to SwaggerHub

Creating Our OpenAPI Document with SwaggerHub

Saving and Exporting an OAS Document

Mocking an API Using SwaggerHub

Generating API Documentation

Summary

Quiz: Prototyping APIs

Challenge: Prototyping APIs

Solution: Prototyping APIs

Building APIs

12 Lessons

Try out building APIs with Node.js and DARRT, emphasizing reusable processes and efficient coding.

The API Reusable Build Process

Coding APIs with Node.js and DARRT

DARRT Project: Data

DARRT Project: Actions

DARRT Project: Resources

DARRT Project: Representation

DARRT Project: Transitions

Putting It All Together

Summary

Quiz: Building APIs

Challenge: Building APIs

Solution: Building APIs

Build a Rest API for an Image-Sharing App With Node.js

Project

Testing APIs

11 Lessons

Unpack the core of API testing principles, techniques with Postman, SRTs, and Newman.

The Goals of API Testing

Testing with SRTs

Using Postman for API Testing

Programming Postman Tests

Writing a Sad-Path Test in Postman

Creating Postman Test Libraries

Running Tests Locally with Newman

Summary

Quiz: Testing APIs

Challenge: Testing APIs

Solution: Testing APIs

10.

Securing APIs

7 Lessons

Work your way through identity, access control, encryption, OAuth, and JWT for API security.

Basics of API Security

Implementing API Security with Auth0

Supporting machine-to-machine security

Summary

Quiz: Securing APIs

Challenge: Securing APIs

Solution: Securing APIs

11.

Deploying APIs

8 Lessons

Grasp the fundamentals of deployment pipelines, DevOps practices, and deploying APIs with Heroku.

The Basics of Deployment Pipeline

The Role of DevOps

Deploying with Heroku - Setup on GitHub

Deploying with Heroku - Production and App Launch

Summary

Quiz: Deploying APIs

Challenge: Deploying APIs

Solution: Deploying APIs

Deploying a Web Application to Heroku Using CLI

Project

12.

Modifying APIs

7 Lessons

Take a closer look at modifying live APIs while ensuring backward compatibility and user trust.

Going Beyond Versioning

The Three Rules for Safely Modifying APIs

The Process for Safely Deploying APIs

Shutting Down an Existing API

Summary

Quiz: Modifying APIs

13.

Some Parting Thoughts

2 Lessons

Focus on API design principles, from aligning with business needs to deployment techniques.

Summary

What's next?

14.

Appendixes

6 Lessons

Master the steps to install essential tools like curl, GitHub, Node.js, Postman, Heroku, and local utilities.

Certificate of Completion

Showcase your accomplishment by sharing your certificate of completion.

Course Author:

The Pragmatic Programmers

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