OpenAPI (Swagger) is the most popular API design tool, and Postman is the most widely used tool for API development and debugging. However, if your team's working language is NOT English, Swagger and Postman might not be the best choices.
I have tried a tool called Apidog, and from the perspectives of API design, API development and debugging, API mocking, and API documentation, it represents best practices for developing non-English APIs.
API Design
Swagger is the standard tool for API design. However, if the API is intended for non-English usage, Swagger can be quite challenging to read and write. Mastering Swagger itself presents a significant challenge.
This often leads many non-native English teams to abandon defining API specifications, instead opting to write code to achieve functionality. Consequently, the APIs developed may become difficult to call and collaborate on.
Apidog offers a great alternative for designing APIs in non-English languages.
- Firstly, the API design in Apidog is entirely visual. You don't need to grasp the complicated API schema syntax in Swagger; you can design compliant APIs visually. You can easily reference schemas visually and use components to improve the efficiency and standardization of API design.
- Secondly, Apidog thoughtfully provides a "title" attribute for non-English developers, which describes the property's name in your native language, corresponding with the English "name" attribute. (Currently supporting Japanese and Portuguese)
- In addition to visualized design, Apidog automatically generates mock responses in the current language when creating response examples. (Supports all languages)
API Documentation
When you create an API spec in a non-English language, you can publish multilingual API documentation in Apidog. (Supports all languages)
API Development and Debugging
No matter what language your API spec is defined in, Apidog allows you to send requests in any language you need by generating the request body. (Supports all languages)
API Mocking
You can also generate corresponding Mock APIs based on your spec. (Supports all languages)
Overall, Apidog provides a comprehensive solution for non-English speaking developers, offering a seamless experience in designing, documenting, developing, and testing APIs. This tool empowers developers to focus on building functionality without being hindered by language barriers, effectively bridging the gap between different languages in software development.
Top comments (0)