A warm welcome to the API Design & Development course by Uplatz.

API stands for Application Programming Interface. An API is like a tool-suite that programmers can use in helping them create software. A good API will have clear and concise commands that a programmer can use and reuse, so they don't have to build everything over again. The API is a powerful and versatile means to connect diverse and disparate software applications.

APIs allow a vast array of unrelated software products to integrate and interoperate with other software and data. APIs also allow developers to add features and functionality to software by utilizing a rich array of other developers' APIs. APIs are not all equal, however. Developers can work with an assortment of API types, protocols and architectures that suit the unique needs of different applications and businesses. In simple words, an API is an interface that helps software programs connect and communicate with one another.

By leveraging the connectivity that APIs provide, developers can work more efficiently and get more things done. Instead of writing code that’s already been written before and wasting precious time, developers can focus their efforts on innovation and expanding the usage of their application or products or services.

APIs are essentially the tools. They allow you as a programmer to deliver solid solutions fairly rapidly. If you have to rebuild everything from scratch every time, your solutions will be cumbersome. They probably might not even work so if there's an API for a particular need, it is to be used. People who have built a successful business from the ground up are always looking for ways to scale it. One of the ways to do this is to encourage interaction with your business, and you can do exactly that by creating an API.

When designing an API, API design refers to the set of planning and architectural choices being made. The API's fundamental design has an impact on how effectively developers can consume it and even how they utilize it. API design, like website or product design, influences the user experience. API design concepts that are good fulfil initial assumptions and perform consistently and predictably. The basic API architecture has an impact on how effectively users can consume it and on the overall user experience. A single strategy is not possible in this development process. Instead, it employs a set of standards to ensure that original expectations are met and that work is carried out consistently. To create software with good functionality, application programming interface designers meticulously follow industry best practices, design patterns, API design principles, and user demands.

Essentially the API design is a method that revolves on user-centered ideas. APIs are similar to various vehicle models in that they have varied components to meet the demands of different users. Regardless of the variations, an experienced driver will quickly learn how to operate various vehicles. API design procedures, in this case, establish a platform that any user may access. To make applications operate while integrating unique business logic around operating systems, languages, or servers, developers often have to create their own Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

APIArchitectures

APIs exchange commands and data, and this requires clear protocols and architectures -- the rules, structures and constraints that govern an API's operation. Today, there are three categories of API protocols or architectures: REST, RPC and SOAP. These may be dubbed "formats," each with unique characteristics and tradeoffs and employed for different purposes.

REST - The representational state transfer (REST) architecture is perhaps the most popular approach to building APIs. REST relies on a client/server approach that separates front and back ends of the API, and provides considerable flexibility in development and implementation. REST is "stateless," which means the API stores no data or status between requests. REST supports caching, which stores responses for slow or non-time-sensitive APIs. REST APIs, usually termed "RESTful APIs," also can communicate directly or operate through intermediate systems such as API gateways and load balancers.

What is RAML?

RESTful API Modeling Language is a YAML-based language for describing RESTful APIs. It provides all the information necessary to describe RESTful or practically RESTful APIs. Although designed with RESTful APIs in mind, RAML is capable of describing APIs that do not obey all constraints of REST.

API Design & Development with RAML - Building complex APIs - Course Curriculum

1. Introduction to API

2. Data Formats and Authentication

3. Designing API

4. API Design Center

5. Features of API

6. API Best Practices

7. APISecurity Schemes

8. API Design Principles

9. Introduction to RAML (RESTful API Modeling Language)

10. Importance of RAMLin Design

11. RAMLAPIPractical Example

12. RAML100 Complete APIDesign

13. RAML200 Complete APIDesign

14. RAMLAPI Design Examples

15. Build an API for Banking Application

16. Build an API for Music Application

17. Build an API for Mobile Orders Application

This APIDesign & Development with RAML course is for software, data, and platform engineers who work with data in their projects. This course is very helpful for data professionals who need to know about data interchange techniques and how to work with business apps. This API course explains how to create software APIs and how to use optimal design principles, how to construct REST APIs using OpenAPI and RAML, how to use YAML to design REST APIs, outline the tools available for managing APIs, how to use the Swagger Editor and construct API specifications, and more. This API course will help you become an APIDesigner & Developer from scratch.