REST APIs

Learning Objectives Define what an API and a REST API are in the context of web development. Explain the roles of a client and a server in an API interaction. Identify the four most common HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and their purposes. Read and interpret a simple JSON data structure. Construct a basic API request URL (endpoint) to fetch data. Describe how different applications use REST APIs to share information. Ever wonder how your weather app gets the live forecast or how a game on your phone shows leaderboards from players around the world? 🤔 It's not magic, it's APIs! In this lesson, we'll explore REST APIs, which are like secret messengers that let different software applications talk to each other. You'll learn how websites and apps sh...

TermDefinitionExample API (Application Programming Interface)A set of rules and tools that allows one software application to talk to another. Think of it as a menu at a restaurant: it lists the dishes you can order (requests you can make) and describes what you'll get back.When you use a weather app, the app uses a weather service's API to ask for the current temperature in your city. The API defines how the app should ask for that information. REST (Representational State Transfer)A popular style or architecture for designing APIs. REST APIs are known for being simple, reliable, and easy to use. They use standard web technologies, making them very common.Most modern web services, like those from YouTube, Twitter, or Google Maps, use REST APIs to let developers access their dat...

The Anatomy of a Request Request = Endpoint + HTTP Method + (optional) Data Every API request you make has two essential parts: the URL (Endpoint) you are targeting and the HTTP Method (the verb) you are using. For creating or updating data, you also include the data itself, usually in JSON format. The Four Core HTTP Methods GET: Read Data | POST: Create Data | PUT: Update Data | DELETE: Remove Data These four verbs cover the most common operations you'll need. Think of them as CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete). Always choose the verb that matches the action you want to perform. JSON Key-Value Pairs `"key": value` (Keys are strings, values can be strings, numbers, booleans, etc.) When sending or receiving data, it's almost always formatted in JS...