API Course with Examples

I want a full course on APIs and give Practical examples

Sure! Here's a full course on APIs, including practical examples.

Section 1: Introduction to APIs

Lesson 1: What is an API?
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of protocols, routines, and tools for
building software and applications. It allows different software applications to communicate with
each other and share data, resources, and functionality. APIs are essential for modern software
development, as they enable developers to build on top of existing code and services, instead of
starting from scratch.

Lesson 2: Types of APIs

There are several types of APIs, including:

 Web APIs: These are APIs that are accessed over the web, using HTTP requests and responses. Web APIs
are typically built using REST (Representational State Transfer) architecture, which uses HTTP methods
(such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE) to perform operations on resources.
 SOAP APIs: SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is an older, XML-based protocol for building APIs.
SOAP APIs are less common than web APIs, but they are still used in some legacy systems.
 GraphQL APIs: GraphQL is a newer API technology that allows clients to request only the data they
need, in a structured format. GraphQL APIs are gaining popularity due to their flexibility and efficiency.
Lesson 3: API Providers and Consumers
In the API world, there are two main roles: API providers and API consumers.

 API providers are the ones who create the API, define its endpoints and resources, and provide
documentation and access to it.
 API consumers are the ones who use the API, sending requests and receiving responses to retrieve or
modify data.

API providers can be companies like Facebook, Google, or Amazon, which offer APIs for their
services. API consumers can be other companies or developers who use those APIs to build their
own applications.

Section 2: Building Web APIs

In this section, we will focus on building web APIs, using the REST architecture.

Lesson 4: Building a Simple API

To build a simple web API, we need to define its endpoints and resources. Let's say we want to
build an API for managing a list of books. Here's what the API could look like:
 GET /api/books: Retrieves a list of all books.
 GET /api/books/{id}: Retrieves a specific book by its ID.
 POST /api/books: Creates a new book.
 PUT /api/books/{id}: Updates an existing book by its ID.
 DELETE /api/books/{id}: Deletes a book by its ID.

To implement this API, we can use a web framework like Flask (in Python) or Express (in
Node.js). Here's an example of how to implement the GET /api/books endpoint in Flask:

pythonCopy code
from flask import Flask, jsonify app = Flask(__name__) books = [ { "id" : 1 , "title" : "The Great Gatsby" ,
"author" : "F. Scott Fitzgerald" }, { "id" : 2 , "title" : "To Kill a Mockingbird" , "author" : "Harper Lee" }, { "id" : 3 ,
"title" : "1984" , "author" : "George Orwell" } ] @app.route('/api/books') def get_books (): return jsonify(books)