API is an abbreviation for application programming interface, which is an abstract construct made available in various languages. Such interfaces enable software developers to write cleaner code and build complex functionality easily and quickly.
APIs come in many different forms and, when implementing one, developers can choose from a range of standards and protocols that the interface must implement and meet, depending on the API type and its purpose. In fact, you can design and implement APIs for pretty much anything in the context of programming — from interactions with an operating system to hardware systems or even database modifications and data retrieval.
In the next section we will discuss some of the most commonly used architectures and protocols used in the context of APIs that enable them to communicate and exchange information with other clients.
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Application programming interfaces enable communication between an endpoint (i.e., a component of the API itself) and the consumer (e.g., an application). Therefore, you need to apply some pre-agreed principles to facilitate communication and the exchange of data in an intuitive and consistent way.
The sets of rules and constraints that drive the implementation, operation and behavior of interfaces are called protocols, each of which has its own characteristics and can serve different purposes. The three most commonly used protocols and architectures for designing and implementing APIs are REST, RPC and SOAP.
REpresentational State Transfer (REST) architecture was originally created by Roy Fielding in 2000. It consists of a set of constraints that RESTful APIs must meet in order to interact with RESTful services.
When the client side initiates a request via an API call, the RESTful endpoint returns a representational state of the resource and vice-versa. The term representation state is used to describe a collection of interconnected resources across the web (equivalent to a state machine), where a system or user can navigate by selecting links that, when clicked, will result in the next resource’s representation. For example, Python will transfer the client (for example, a web browser) to the resource representation of that specific article on the Built In platform.
This information can be represented in several different forms, such as JSON, XLT, Python or even plain text, and is delivered via HTTP. Despite this, JSON is the most popular one given that it’s human-readable and language-agnostic, which means any programming language can read or use it.
In order for an API to be RESTful, it must meet the following criteria:
Remote Procedure Call (RCP) is a protocol used for the implementation of client-server based applications where the client program consumes resources or services provided by the server. For example, whenever you log in to your personal banking app, your browser acts as the client that initiates requests to the bank’s servers.
Depending on the encoding format, an RPC can be categorized either as JSON-RPC (encoding in JSON) or XML-RPC (encoding in XML).
An RPC endpoint accepts calls that may include numerous parameters and must return only one result. Unlike REST architecture, which mostly deals with resource representations, RPC protocol is commonly used for performing certain actions and executing blocks of code, such as procedures or commands, on a remote server.
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a protocol that enables systems written in different languages and technologies to communicate effectively. Unlike REST, which is a set of architectural principles, SOAP imposes a set of rules that APIs must meet in order to be compliant with the specified protocol. This means a higher level of complexity that tends to make response times slower.
On the other hand, SOAP services tend to outperform alternatives when it comes to enterprise solutions and mission-critical systems, such as billing or navigation software systems. SOAP APIs are also ACID compliant and, therefore, offer reliability when executing transactions in databases. ACID compliance means that the transactions must meet certain requirements:
SOAP APIs also offer the advantage of being able to operate over a wide range of different communication protocols, including SMTP, TCP and HTTP, which means they can be used to support different use cases. In contrast to REST, which can only transmit over HTTP, SOAP is independent of any specific transport layer. It can transmit over HTTP but also over SMTP that handles email communication asynchronously.
In contrast to other protocols and architectures, SOAP can also be used to support stateful operations. Modern web services take advantage of stateless architectures — such as REST — but there are still use cases that need to support stateful operations that are multiple chained operations. A few examples that would benefit from stateful operations are money transfer and online reservation systems.
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If you’re just starting your career in technology, you need to make sure that you’re familiar with application programming interfaces, what their purpose is and why they’re necessary. Additionally, ensure that you have some exposure to the consumption and implementation of API endpoints. Finally, make sure you know what protocols and architectural patterns are available so that you are able to make a wise choice when creating one. Different use cases require different approaches.
Whatever engineering path you decide to follow, I can guarantee that APIs are something you will come across very frequently, so be sure to build strong foundations around the concepts we discussed earlier. And never forget that practice makes perfect!
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Note that any programming tips and code writing requires some knowledge of computer programming. Please, be careful if you do not know what you are doing…