- 8 min read
- Aug 31, 2023
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If you are acquainted with the technology industry, then you must come across the terminology ‘API’, Application Programming Interface. It plays a major role in the economy. It has become a relevant part and parcel of daily usage. The process of developing an API advances the functionality, performance and user experience of an application regardless of the operating system. While hiring app developers for building mobile and web applications, organizations enquire about their acknowledgement of the same. In this article, we will discuss the relevant aspects of the application programming interface (API). App development practices are incomplete without API development. One can create an effective application for business. This blog post will assist in delineating the key aspects of custom API development while building an application.
API & its importance
API is the short abbreviation of Application Programming Interface which is considered as a set of instructions, standards and requirements that allow an application to deploy features and assist apps to communicate effectively. It enables data transmission between one software product with the other. It offers a mobile application that shares its data with other apps and eases out the user experience without involving developers.
How does API development work?
In order to comprehend the functionalities of API, we need to have a proper idea of how API development works. For instance, any booking website or application you open and enter details relevant to return date, flight and city. After entering details in the search, a list of flights appears. This generation is resulting from APIs in acquiring accurate data and sending requests to websites for accessing the database and getting all the relevant data through API. API acts as an intermediate effectively streamlining the data-sharing procedure.
API types
When it comes to release policies, there are several API types that can be considered.
Partner APIs
This application programming interface is used for software integration between two parties. It offers an open space for business partners to share integration processes. Partner APIs assist in digital asset management and corporate identity maintenance.
Private APIs
A private API is well-designed to improve solutions within an organization. This kind of API is available for users working with the API publisher. In this way, organizations can take control of the API functionalities.
Public APIs
Public APIs are most commonly used by third-party developers. They are popular owing to their massive usage in increasing brand awareness. It enables developers to receive additional earnings when they are executed strategically while performing mobile app development services.
Composite APIs
They are renowned for combining distinct services and data APIs. It assists in amalgamating existing API functions that can perform several tasks in a single call. The API is important to amplify execution speed in addition to embellishing app performance.
Important terminologies relating to API development
If you are in search of premium quality API development, then you must remain aware of the relevant terminologies mentioned below.
API Key
It is a unique code utilized for authenticating a user or developer.
JSON
The javascript object notion is considered a data format that enables APIs for interchanging data. With JSON, the interchanging of data can happen between a server and a web application.
GET
It requests data from the server at a specified time.
POST
It is considered a method that developers utilize for conveying data to the API server for keeping updates and creating a resource.
Latency
Latency is considered the amount of time taken by the API to process a request and response.
OAuth
OAuth is an open-standard authorization framework that enables secure as well as limited access to the end-user’s data.
API throttling
It can be defined as the procedure of controlling API requests for a certain period of time.
Top practices for API development
In this context, it is important to look at the best practices that developers adopt for API development. Let’s take a look at the different best practices of API development.
Utilize throttling
It is the best API practice that redirects the overflow of traffic protecting from DoS and backup APIs.
Considering API gateway as enforcer
At the time of setting up throttling rules, application of API keys or OAuth, the API gateway can be considered the primary point. API gateway enables only the right users to access the data
Allowing overriding HTTP method
The REST APIs override the HTTP method and employing the HTTP header X-HTTP-Method-Override eases the procedure.
Security
The security of the API is ensured using token-based authentication that will make your API secure.
SDK & libraries
It is a relevant resource to the development team to amplify the speed of services by providing resources that contain reusable processes and code.
Documentation
Having an effective range of documentation is another best practice in creating extensive documentation for an API that will assist developers in understanding all processes.
Assess APIs & infrastructure
In recent times, real-time analysis is important where the API server can drain CPU and other problems. Developers don’t need to perform all this as it can be done through the available tools in AWS.
Essential features in API design
At the time of creating an application, API development is important. Important features of API make it unique among developers.
Pagination
The process of creating pagination assists in observing the resources that take significant time and this process determines the quality of data that can be displayed.
Authorization & authentication
This feature helps in verifying the right identity and determining the verified user who can act as a specific resource.
Cache
The process of developing a cache strategy assists in retrieving resources at lightning speed.
Wrappers
API wrappers are delineated as containers and packages that amalgamate different sets of API calls into user-friendly functions.
Error handling
Effective error handling makes the debugging process easier as it identifies the issues quickly.
Testing
API Testing has major similarities to software testing and it comprises testing the APIs directly. It determines whether it meets the expectations for functionality, performance and security.
In order to have a proper understanding of API Development practices, it is important to understand the best tools for REST API Development.
Significant tools for REST API development
Many tools are available for developers to ease out the process of developing API.
APIMatic & API transformer
These are the popular tools for API development for an automatic generation for building premium quality SDKs and code snippets from API-specific formats and transforming them into other specification formations including API Blueprint.
Apigee
Apigee is considered an API management provider by Google enabling developers to marvel at digital transformation by re-establishing an approach towards creating an API.
API serverless architecture
The products enable developers to build, design, publish and host APIs by including cloud-based server infrastructure.
API science
API is one of the best REST API development tools to assess the performance of both internal and external APIs.
API-platform
As an open-source PHP framework, API platform that is utilized for web API Development.
Github
As an open-source Git repository hosting service, GitHub enables developers to manage code files, control versions, pull requests, control versions and comments.
Postman
With the help of tools, developers get the option to test, run, document and assess the performance of API.
What is the cost of API development?
When it comes to determining the cost of API development, several factors impact the cost range. It can cost between $20000 to $50000 depending on the project requirements and specifications. If you are trying to build a well-documented, fully-featured and secure API from a renowned API development company, then you will get assistance from expert developers with many years of experience in app development challenges.
Final thought
From the perspective of business collaboration and software development, API has become popular among developers. APIs are proven to embellish business gains by administering the required technological connectivity. One can also build as well as integrate the required API for your business. After proper observation of the article, we can get a complete understanding of the API for their business. If you are looking to develop an API for your business, Nextbrain is a renowned API development company having dedicated app developers with effective technical knowledge in development solutions. Our dedicated development team has hands-on experience in creating world-class solutions for different industry verticals.