Building your API Utility Belt

No matter the situation, Batman always had the perfect tool on hand. It didn't matter how rare, bizarre, or unique the situation was, he was ready to save the day. Unfortunately, in software development, we don't have a utility belt. At best, our tools are scripts we've cobbled together over the years that solve particular problems but leave us stuck more often than not. In this talk, we'll work to change that. This talk will introduce you to seven tools that are vital to everyday API usage and development.

Transcript

1. BUILDING YOUR API UTILITY BELT D. KEITH CASEY JR. @CASEYSOFTWARE KEITH@CASEYSOFTWARE.COM
2. Who am I?
3. Who am I?
4. Who am I? http://TheAPIDesignBook.com
5. AGENDA ASSUMPTIONS THE PROBLEMS THE STATUS QUO THE RIGHT TOOLS
6. Disclaimer Some of the tools and services covered here are open source, some are commercial products, and some are a blend of both. I have no vested interest in any of them though I know people at all of the companies involved. * Also, all pictures used without permission or attribution.
7. AGENDA ASSUMPTIONS THE PROBLEMS THE STATUS QUO THE RIGHT TOOLS
8. Assumptions You have a technical background APIs are an important part of your job Use them on a regular basis Potentially build them too Sometimes public, sometimes private
9. Assumptions Nothing is perfect You make mistakes Your providers make mistakes That other team are knuckleheads
10. Assumptions You acknowledge the real Batman Ben Afleck Christian Bale George Clooney Val Kilmer Michael Keaton
11. Assumptions You acknowledge the real Batman Ben Afleck Christian Bale George Clooney Val Kilmer Michael Keaton
12. Assumptions
13. AGENDA ASSUMPTIONS THE PROBLEMS THE STATUS QUO THE RIGHT TOOLS
14. The Problems…
15. Only one problem: Testing APIs sucks.
16. AGENDA ASSUMPTIONS THE PROBLEMS THE STATUS QUO THE RIGHT TOOLS
17. The Status Quo…
18. The Status Quo No wait, that sucks too.
19. AGENDA ASSUMPTIONS THE PROBLEMS THE STATUS QUO THE RIGHT TOOLS
20. TOOL 1: CURL & LIBCURL
21. Background Completely open source with tons of integrations Incredible power and flexibility Incredible complexity
22. Common Commands -X specify an HTTP verb -d specify data fields, such as for a POST -I return/display all the returned headers -H specify extra/custom headers
23. Getting Started curl https://api.github.com curl -I https://api.github.com curl https://api.github.com/user/repos curl -u caseysoftware -X POST https:// api.github.com/user/repos -d ‘{“name”:”monkey”}’
24. http://curl.haxx.se/docs/manual.html (35 pages, no kidding..)
25. TOOL 2: POSTMAN
26. Background Started in Sept 2013, raised $1MM May 2015 Over 3M users (as of June 2016) Free but with some paid extensions
27. Common Commands (there really aren’t any - point & click)
28. Getting Started (psst.. open postman)
29. The Real Power
30. https://www.getpostman.com/docs
31. TOOL 3: BDD IRL
32. Background Different from Unit Testing in that we step outside the system and take the users’ point of view Tools in just about every language: Cucumber, Behave, Behat, etc Uses the Gherkin syntax
33. Our Syntax It’s English, but in the Gherkin syntax so this: As a [role] I want [feature] so that [benefit] becomes a feature structured as: Given [condition] when I [action] then [result]
34. Getting Started
35. http://docs.behat.org/
36. TOOL 4: FIDDLER
37. Background Created by Telerik, based on .NET (Mono) Serves as a local proxy, not a tool for requests Free to use; some paid, some free extensions Geoedge - route traffic through 130 locations
38. Common Functionality Active Man in the Middle (MITM) Logging and Recording Traffic & Payload Analysis Manipulation/Modification Your logs kept locally
41. http://www.telerik.com/fiddler http://www.telerik.com/fiddler/add-ons
42. TOOL 5: API TOOLS
43. Background Powered by 3Scale (acquired by Redhat recently) Serves as a proxy, not a tool for requests Web-based, only good for public APIs OSS - local via RPM (or Vagrant or Docker)
44. Common Functionality Active Man in the Middle (MITM) Logging and Recording Traffic & Payload Analysis Manipulation/Modification Your logs kept locally (or in the cloud!)
45. TOOL 6: STOPLIGHT.IO
46. Background Started Dec 2014, still Beta but interesting Serves as: a proxy & documentation generator Web-based, primarily for public APIs Using ngrok, you can share localhost
47. Common Functionality Active Man in the Middle (MITM) Logging and Recording Traffic & Payload Analysis Generates Documentation Heavy focus on collaboration & sharing
48. Getting Started (psst.. open stoplight)
49. https://designer.stoplight.io/docs
50. TOOL 7: RUNSCOPE
51. Background Started in Dec 2012, funded by a16z and others Serves as a proxy, performance monitoring, usage tracking, unit testing, monitoring, etc Web-based, primarily for public APIs Using ngrok, you can share localhost
52. Common Functionality Active Man in the Middle (MITM) Logging and Recording Traffic & Payload Analysis Your logs are kept in the cloud Incredibly easy to share requests & callbacks
53. Getting Started https://runscope.com
54. https://runscope.com/docs
55. To compare… Active MITM? Logs? Collaboration? Docs Generation? Testing & Validation? Fiddler yes local no no no API Tools yes internal share results no yes Stoplight.io yes local for definitions yes no Runscope yes cloud share results no yes
56. AGENDA ASSUMPTIONS THE PROBLEMS THE STATUS QUO THE RIGHT TOOLS
59. D. KEITH CASEY JR. @CASEYSOFTWARE KEITH@CASEYSOFTWARE.COM BUILDING YOUR API UTILITY BELT
60. Who am I? http://TheAPIDesignBook.com