The rise of GraphQL

Since its introduction in 2015, GraphQL has become a very popular API. Often times replacing existing REST APIs as well. In this talk we’ll look at:

What GraphQL is
Why you should (not) use GraphQL
Some best practices for implementing a GraphQL spec
Potential downsides

Transcript

1. The rise of GraphQL
2. FIND ME github.com/jelmersnoeck twitter.com/jelmersnoeck Jelmer Snoeck ABOUT ME - Tech Lead at manifold.co - Gopher - Performance, reliability and scalability
3. What is GraphQL?
4. Quick history lesson - Created by Facebook in 2012 - Open Sourced in 2015 - GraphQL Foundation in 2018
5. GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. GraphQL provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API, gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more, makes it easier to evolve APIs over time, and enables powerful developer tools. - graphql.org
7. Descriptive
8. Models
9. Queries
10. Query Language
12. evelinag.com
13. graphql.org/swapi-graphql
16. Runtime
17. “a runtime for fulfilling those queries”
18. Resolvers
22. Why (not) use GraphQL?
23. Query Language + Runtime
27. Ask for what you need
30. /v1/people/cGVvcGxlOjE=?field_mask=name,gender
32. Versioning and deprecation
35. Error Handling
37. Performance
39. Performance - Use dataloaders - Use GET requests (where possible) - Set complexity limits
40. Best Practices
41. Pagination
42. Pagination - cursor based - pageInfo - pagination by default
46. Global Object Identification
49. Input/output objects for mutations
51. Thanks! @jelmersnoeck manifold.co