We had met a couple times working on backbone, React, and Angular projects. I knew she had connections to vital information and gave me the tea when I asked for it, but I didn’t know her full name.
API is an acronym for Application Programming Interface and allow a web application or service communicate with other web applications and services through a series of protocols. A helpful metaphor in understanding how they work is to think of them as a waiter that takes your web apps order and delivers it to the kitchen (the other web app) and brings your order back to you. It looks like a long string of gibberish:
TH15iS-4nEX4MPL3Ap1–4uR3nJ0yM3NT
Developers employ RESTful APIs to access information on other platforms for their own web applications; RESTful stands for Representational State Transfer, which allows your web application to make a call to a server through a HTTP protocol. These protocols are either a GET, PUT, POST, or DELETE request. The mark of a RESTful API are the following features:
- The client and server function independently.
- The server does not store data. Data can be stored on the client’s end.
- The client side allows information to be cached.
But she has her limits. While Google allows developers to access to APIs so they can access Youtube videos or Google Map coordinates, there are quotas in place to limit the number of calls available every 24hrs. Even a large company as Google has only so much data available for users and developers alike. Further, limiting quotas allows for protection from abuse of API access as well as protecting from errant abuse, such as accidental infinite loops while coding! We’ve all been there. As Google limits the number of API calls for developers, developers may also limit the number of calls on their app that users can make. If you make as many requests as I did within a small window of time, your API will be “paused” and inaccessible for 24hrs. Note: I lost access well before 697 calls. If your web application relies on numerous calls being made by yourself or users, you can purchase more calls from Google.
There are many APIs available for you to employ in your web application to help make information accessible to your users.One great resource is www.ProgrammableWeb.com, which has an extensive API directory. In sum, I enjoyed getting to know APIs. She has a lot to offer — and more than just the tea. But if you’re going to take anything away from this article, if you’re going to get to know her too, remember not to call her too much.
Xoxo, Gossip Girl
