Introduction to the Course

Get familiar with the Dropbox API, as well as the prerequisites and intended audience for this course.

We'll cover the following

Overview

Dropbox is a cloud-based file storage platform that is available worldwide. It helps users store and save documents, files, or pictures to the cloud, which can be shared with others as needed.

What is an API?

An API is a software gateway that allows different software components to communicate with each other. It helps expose the capabilities of an application to the outer world, allowing for programmatic access to the application’s data.

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How APIs work
How APIs work

Consider the case of a service like Dropbox that provides cloud-based storage. Building and exposing an API for this service will allow others to programmatically fetch the data this service offers, such as remote file management. Many popular services like YouTube, Reddit, and Google Maps also provide APIs for extended use cases. These services allow authorized clients to access the resources provided by them.

Prerequisites

In this course, we’ll explore different endpoints of the Dropbox API. We’ll make calls to the endpoints using HTTP requests and the JavaScript programming language. Therefore, the requirements to take this course include:

  • A basic understanding of APIs.
  • A basic understanding of HTTP requests.
  • The fundamentals of Node.js and React.
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Prerequisites
Prerequisites

Intended audience

This API course is helpful for the following audiences:

  • Any individual who wants to learn how to programmatically manipulate files and folders on Dropbox.
  • Students who satisfy the prerequisites and want to learn about interesting APIs.
  • Professionals that have experience with APIs and want to utilize services provided by the Dropbox API.