APIs Demystified

My first tech talk. I chose to speak on APIs.

NOTE: Slide 7 is missing some information about applications that use API authentication (e.g. Facebook) and others that don't (e.g. PlaceKitten) and why.

Transcript

1. APIs Demystified How WEB APIs work
2. What is an API? API stands for Application Programming Interface • APIs prevent us as developers from "reinventing the wheel" AKA "No more Facebooks!" • API == Menu
3. API? MENU? WHAT? Welcome to Basil Thai's API! API/Menu‑defined Command Information you are expecting
4. API == Menu Translating to Python... In python, your request to the API should look like:
5. How do APis Work? Requests
6. How do APIs work? Authentication!!! API Key ‑ Grants access to the API • ‑ Identifies you to the API ‑ Are often long alphanumeric strings Some APIs require authentication using Auth or OAuth •
7. How do APIs work? Authentication! Yea or Nay?
8. How do APIs work? Response Response from the server contains a 3‑digit status code which begin with 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5: • 2XX = Server says OK!! Everything is fine! e.g. HTTP 200 OK – 4XX = Mistake from Client!!! e.g. 404 "File not found" – 5XX = Server fails and can't respond e.g. HTTP Error 504 –
9. How do APIs work? Response Body!! XML or JSON? How to know what format of response the API returns... • READ DOCUMENTATION!!! – JSON XML
10. APIs Successfully Demystified!!! <Well> Hopefully!!! </Well> RESOURCES: Codecademy: http://codecademy.com Stack Exchange: http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/35939/ho w‑do‑web‑apis‑work If you prefer Humans: Liz, Cynthia, Christian, Nick and Nick [Lol]