RESTful Web API Design with NodeJS

Name: RESTful Web API Design with NodeJS
Rating: 3.4 (35 reviews)

Explore the practical sides of REST to build data-centric applications with Node

Created byPackt Publishing

Last updated 5/2016

English

What you'll learn

Define what an API is and how it is used in client-server communication
Explore HTTP requests and responses and find out about the various fields that make up these requests and responses
Understand the architectural constraints and properties that make an API RESTful
Use Twitter’s API to tweet and search for tweets
Store Twitter’s data in our database to minimize the use of Twitter’s API
Use Async.js to handle Twitter’s API constraints
Test APIs using Postman and Apache Benchmark
Build the API on the server using Express.js and MongoDB
Find out about the Facebook Graph API, and its structure, resources, and permissions
Be introduced to GitHub API, its use of different representations, the PATCH verb, HATEOAS, and conditional requests
Get security tips to prevent session hijacking vulnerabilities

Course content

5 sections • 22 lectures • 1h 55m total length

The Course Overview2:25
This video provides an overview of the entire course.
What Is an API?2:24
The aim of this video is to define API in the context of this course. The video shows what an API is, what it is not, and how is it used in client-server communication.
Communication via HTTP6:50
This video aims to give the viewers an introduction to HTTP by focusing on the parts that are used in RESTful APIs. The terms that are explained in this video will be used throughout the course.
Identifying REST Resources4:28
This video explains the three kinds of REST resources, the endpoint names of each kind, and the methods that can be applied to each endpoint.
Properties of RESTful APIs6:51
APIs can run over HTTP and yet not be RESTful. This video covers the architectural constraints and properties that make an API RESTful.
Setting Up the Environment7:08
This video deals with setting up the development environment so that we are ready to create our application.

A Look at OAuth 1.0a5:23
This video deals with the problem of authentication in REST APIs on behalf of users. It presents an overview of OAuth, which is an open standard for authentication that is common in REST APIs.
Creating an OAuth Login Request5:33
We want to create the OAuth authentication flow in our application. This video shows how to generate a request token, send users to Twitter to sign in, and get authenticated users back to our application.
Getting an Access Token2:58
After user signed in to Twitter and authorized our application, the application now needs to get an access token to access the user’s Twitter profile and log the user in.
Exploring Twitter’s REST API10:42
After user signed in to Twitter and authorized our application, the application now needs to get an access token to access the user’s Twitter profile and log the user in.
Saving Data in MongoDB7:03
Hitting Twitter’s API every time the app needs Twitter data is slow and can result in Twitter blocking our application. In this video, we will learn how to store Twitter’s data in our database to minimize the use of Twitter’s API.

Designing the API Specifications3:35
The first step while building an API is to write the specifications. In this video, we will learn how to design the specifications from the data we have and the requirements that we want.
Creating the API Handlers7:16
We know what the API should look like. Now we need to build it. In this video, we will define the API’s route handlers and call the API from the client to have a functional application.
Acceptance Testing with Postman11:31
Changing an API can break an application. For this reason, every API should have acceptance tests, which help prevent breaking apps. In this video, we will use Postman to write acceptance tests for our API.
Load Testing and Going Multicore7:30
An API that serves one request per second cannot have the same infrastructure as one that serves thousands of requests per second. In this video, we will learn how to measure the capacity of our API and how to increase that capacity by utilizing multiple CPU cores.

Facebook Graph API7:09
A single API structure cannot fit all applications. We will look at how Facebook structured its API as a social graph. By the end of this video, you will understand what the Facebook Graph API is and how to use it.
GitHub API5:08
Some data needs time to be computed on the server. This makes the server slow under heavy load. In this video, we will see the approach that GitHub uses to keep its responses fast.
IFTTT3:05
The primary use of APIs is to connect applications. We will look at IFTTT, the perfect example of doing just that.

Security Considerations3:45
In this course, we’ve taken a pedagogical approach to explaining how APIs and authentication is done. In this video, we will look at the security issues with our API and what needs to be done to handle them.
Documentation4:32
APIs are designed to be used by other people. These users need an easy way to know the capabilities of an API without reading source code. In this video, we will take a look at the tools for generating API documentation.
Versioning2:08
Software requirements always change, and these changes should not break the apps or destroy the businesses of those using our APIs. API versioning helps us keep old clients compatible while providing new clients with all the new features.
Caching5:14
Performance and bandwidth are limited, so we should use them as efficiently as possible. This video shows three ways of caching responses to help conserve bandwidth and maximize performance.

Requirements

Knowledge of REST or HTTP is not essential as this course provides all the background information required to get you started.

Description

RESTful Web APIs allow developers to create unprecedented applications by leveraging the data on the Internet. Since JavaScript is the language of the web, building APIs using Node.js provides a seamless development experience on both the front end and the back end.

This video course gives you an overview of a RESTful API and goes through the logical steps of building one. It explores three different APIs, focusing on their similarities and differences to effectively implement one.

We’ll start off by defining APIs, showing how they can be built on top of HTTP, and listing the properties that make an API RESTful. We will develop Twitter Notes, a web application that lets its users leave notes for their Twitter friends. We will use Twitter’s API to implement a login flow and then design a web API. In addition to using Twitter’s API, we will take a closer look at two other real-world APIs—Facebook API and GitHub API. Finally, we’ll end up honing some best practices to keep the APIs secure, maintainable, and performant.

By the end of this course, you will have a good grasp of APIs, HTTP, REST, OAuth 1.0a, API testing, and API security. Since the course explores three different REST APIs, you will reach a level where you will be comfortable using any RESTful API, even if it does not have an SDK.

About The Author

Saleh Hamadeh started programming when he was 13, and he currently studies computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Saleh became president of gt-webdev, a student organization focused on teaching students web development. During his time at Georgia Tech, Saleh interned as a web developer at BrainJocks and Yahoo! Saleh is passionate about the future of the web and hopes to work, learn, and teach in that field.

Who this course is for:

This video course is for Node.js developers who know JavaScript and are familiar with HTML and CSS.

RESTful Web API Design with NodeJS

What you'll learn

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Course content

REST Fundamentals6 lectures • 30min

Consuming a RESTful API5 lectures • 32min

Building a RESTful API4 lectures • 30min

APIs in the Real World3 lectures • 15min

Best Practices4 lectures • 16min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: