API, REST API and RESTful API

Kavindu Chethani — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 09:16:51 +0000

REST API and RESTful API used in the modern state of client/server architecture in software development. In this article you will be introducing to APIs, Rest API and Restful APIs.

Table of content

● What is API?

● Benefits of using APIs

● What is a RESTful API and REST API?

● Endpoints REST API and RESTful APIs.

● Difference between REST API and RESTful API.

What is API?

Application Programme Interface abbreviated as API which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Let’s look into an example to go through with this topic,If user wants to book train tickets, web application shows the departure time, stations like that all the informations,

when we look in this from the developer side, developer wants to display all the train schedule informations in the web application, then developer use the APIs to get these train informations from the web server where all the train details and informations are stored. Then developers can retrieve data from the web server using the APIs to display in the web application.

Benefits of using API

APIs needed to make the connection between application functions to handle the data from predefined processes.

● Ease of integration: APIs can be embedded with any type of software application, So it can easily integrate with the applications and functions between different websites.

● Reduce software development effort: Using APIs reduce development efforts, developers can implement APIs of Google Maps to provide the exact store location to website visitors. In doing so, you are not going to develop a GPS-based location tracking application from the ground up. Instead, you are using the APIs of an existing application on your website or web application. This approach is a more efficient and cost-effective way to achieve the required functionality.

● Security: APIs provide a secure communication gateway for different app components to interact and exchange data.

What is a RESTFUL API and REST API?

What is REST API?

REpresentational State Transfer abbreviated to REST. It is an API that follows a set of rules for an application and services to communicate with each other.

REST APIs work by fielding requests for a resource and returning all relevant information about the resource, translated into a format that clients can easily interpret (this format is determined by the API receiving requests). Clients can also modify items on the server and even add new items to the server through a REST API.

What is a RESTful API?

The RESTful API is an Application Programming Interface(API) that obeys the REST architecture constraints and interacts with RESTful web services. The RESTful API also follows the principles of REST API. RESTful APIs are more scalable and have a longer lifespan. The RESTful API uses HTTP requests to access and use data. There four basic HTTP requests a client can make are:

● GET — To retrieve a resource.

● POST — To create a new resource.

● PUT — To edit or update an existing resource.

● DELETE- To delete a resource.

Endpoints REST API and RESTful APIs.

When a user makes a response APIs send a ‘request’ information from a web application or web server, it will receive a ‘response.’ The location where APIs send requests or where resources live are endpoints. With REST APIs, an endpoint is one end of a communication channel.

Difference between REST API and RESTful APIs.

Though the architecture of both REST and RESTful API is similar, they vary with a slight difference. The REST API follows all the rules of the REST Architecture. It has a client-server, stateless, cacheable, layer system with a uniform interface, whereas the RESTful web applications have all the features of the REST architecture with unique additional features .

In REST The protocol is strong, and it inherits many security measures, which are built-in architecture layers. In RESTful APIs It is multi-layer and has a transport protocol which makes the system less secure when compared with REST.

When using web services REST API working of the URL is based on request and response. The working of RESTful is completely based on REST applications.

It is highly adaptable and user-friendly to all business enterprises and IT using REST APIs.RESTful APIs It is too flexible when compared to RESTLESS web services.

In this article I’m go through some basics about APIs, REST API, RESTful API.If you guys find this article useful , share with your friends. Thank you.

NoSQL database

Kavindu Chethani — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 14:44:51 +0000

What is NoSQL database

That the data is sorted in a document rather than relational tables(Not only SQL). Relational databases rely on tables, columns, rows, or schemas to organize and retrieve data. In contrast, NoSQL database do not rely on these structures and use more flexible data models.

That the data is sorted in a document rather than relational tables. NoSQL databases have unique features. Flexible schemas, Horizontal scaling, Fast queries due to data model, Ease of use for developers.

Most popular NoSQL Databases

MongoDB, CouchDB, CouchBase, Cassandra, HBase, Redis, Riak, Neo4J.

NoSQL database types

Document databases
Key-Values stores
Column oriented databases
Graph database

Document databases

Real world example :
Story book contains story in the pages, When we going to add this story book into a relational tables, story texts goes to a one table, authors goes to another table, publishers goes to another table, titles goes to another tables like that we need to handle separate tables. But in the document database we can sorted this into single entity.

The document type databases are sorted in format like JSON.

Key-Values stores

A telephone directory is a good real example, where the key is the person, and the value is the phone number. Key-Value databases store data as a hash table where each key is unique, and the value can be a JSON, BLOB(Binary Large Objects), string, etc.

ex:

Key-value stores store everything as a key and a value.

Column oriented databases

Column-oriented NoSQL databases are widely used to manage data warehouses, business intelligence, CRM, Library card catalogs. A column database is faster and more efficient than a traditional database because the data storage is by columns rather than by rows.

ex:

Graph database

Graph base databases mostly used for social networks, logistics, spatial data. Graph database is a database that uses graph structures for semantic queries with nodes, edges, and properties to represent and store data. A key concept of the system is the graph.

ex:

Why we use NoSQL databases?

NoSQL provides high level of scalability.
It is used in distributed computing environment.
Implementation is less costly It provides storage for semi-structured data and it is also provide flexibility in schema.
Relationships are less complicated.

DEV Community: Kavindu Chethani

API, REST API and RESTful API

NoSQL database