Fetch! – Learn about APIs with Dogs
I know I’m not alone in thinking that dogs are the best people. If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of our four-legged friends. So why not combine your love of dogs with learning about Application Programming Interfaces (API)!
What’s an API?
In broadterms, an API acts as an intermediate between two applications. It lists the operationsand requests that a client can make. For example, a client may request a listof customers from a database. The API checks that the request is valid, getsthe data, formats it and sends it back to the client.
More andmore software is being built using APIs as they save developers time. GoogleFonts API allows developers to request fonts without having to download them andsave them as part of their software.
Take a REST
The requestfalls into one of these categories:
RepresentationalState Transfer (REST) is a set of rules that developers follow when they createan API. These rules decide which requests a client can make. For example, a client wants to GET someinformation from the server. The client creates a specific URL (endpoint) lookingfor this data.
HTTPmethod
CRUD
Action
GET
read
Return data requested
POST
create
Create/add a new record
PUT or PATCH
update
Update/Amend an existing record
DELETE
delete
Delete a record
The response back from the server is often written JSON. The response should also include a HTTP Status code informing the user of a successful or unsuccessful request. E.g. the dreaded 404 Not Found.
You said there would be dogs?
Which leads me to Dog API, “the internet's biggest collection of open source dog pictures.” This is a great resource for practising your API calls. It contains a number of different GET endpoints that you can hit.
- https://dog.ceo/api/breeds/list/all Returns a list of all breeds.
- https://dog.ceo/dog-api/documentation/random Return a random dog.
- https://dog.ceo/api/breed/hound/images Returns all images from a breed.
- https://dog.ceo/api/breed/hound/images/random Will return a single random image from this breed.
- https://dog.ceo/api/breed/hound/images/random/3 Returns 3 random hound images.
- https://dog.ceo/api/breed/hound/list Returns an array of all the sub-breeds from a breed
- https://dog.ceo/api/breed/terrier/border/images Returns all Border Terrier pictures.
It’s up toyou what you do with these endpoints. You could use them in a webpage todisplay random dogs. You could create an app, or you could simply practice yourREST calls using PostMan. If you want to make POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETErequests, you could try writing your an API connected to you own database.
Whetherit’s Pokemon, Star Wars, Weather, Music, or News, there’s a free APIs out therefor you to develop with. Have a look at this list if you’re more of a catperson : https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis