API and Webservices - Understand and use REST APIs

Explore the basics of http and http requests, including the hypertext transfer protocol, client–server communication, and the four parts of a request: request line, headers, blank line, and body.

Explore the http request line, including the method, uri, and http version, and see examples of get and post requests used with rest apis.

Learn how http headers pass information between client and server as name-value pairs, with host and accept-language as examples, and how request, response, general, and representation headers relate to resource.

Understand how the http body carries data in requests and responses, with content type and content length headers defining the body, and see a post request with a json body.

Explore the get and head request methods for rest apis, focusing on data retrieval and metadata access. Get requests fetch data without a body, while head requests return only headers.

Compare post, put, and pitch requests: post creates a resource with a json body, put fully replaces, and pitch partially modifies; put is item potent, while the others are not.

Understand how http delete requests remove a specific resource on a server using the delete method and uri, typically with no request body, and recognize idempotence and potential 404 responses.

Learn the structure of an http response, including the status line with the http version, status code and reason phrase, followed by headers, a blank line, and a json body.

Install Postman and issue http requests to a fake rest API, mastering json bodies, headers, and the post, put, get, patch, and delete methods for API testing.

Explore how http response status codes convey request outcomes, learn the four main classes by first digit—from informational 1xx to server error 5xx—and examine common examples like 404 not found.

Explore the rest architectural style and its six guiding principles, including representational state transfer. Learn how resources are represented in JSON or XML and accessed via URIs.

Explore JSON as a lightweight, language-independent data format used to store and transmit data in APIs. Learn its basic data types—numbers, strings, booleans, null, arrays, and objects—and nested structures.

Convert Grand Canyon National Park data into a JSON object, using an animals array and a nested location object with latitude and longitude, then save as a JSON file.

Learn to create a JSON object describing a park, using camel case keys, string values in quotes, arrays for multiple values, and a nested location object with latitude and longitude.

Master query parameters in URLs, including question marks, field value pairs, and ampersands for multiple parameters, with practical search examples using the Star Wars API and Postman.

Identify path parameters as variable parts of a URL path that identify resources; a vehicle example shows type, make, and model as path data, with color as a query parameter.

Learn the basics of XML, the Extensible Markup Language used to store and transmit data, like JSON, with tags, start and end elements, and a hierarchical root-based structure.

Learn to convert an order for a combo meal (burger, Coke, fries) into xml with Notepad++, save as xml, and view the root element orders in a browser.

Explore how XML attributes attach metadata to start tags, specify unique name/value pairs with quotes, and compare attributes versus elements for APIs.

Explore the XML declaration line, including version, encoding, and the standalone attribute, and learn why it starts at the document top and how UTF eight encodes characters.

Rewrite the provided JSON as XML, using a root element and repeated child elements for customers, hobbies, and cards, and validate syntax with an online XML formatter.

Explore an XML exercise solution, showing root and child elements, nested hobbies and cars, and an attribute for customer id, then validate and format XML online.