Professional Development with Web APIs
Chapter One
Anatomy of a Web API
In this chapter, you will learn the basic concepts of Web APIs that I use throughout the rest of the
book. Web APIs are application programming interfaces that can be called over standard Internet
protocols. Many companies are using Web APIs to expose functionality in their existing systems
in a platform-neutral manner. Other companies are building applications from the ground up as
Web APIs. Web APIs generally allow remote computers on different platforms to talk to each
other using methods that were previously very difficult. This chapter will specifically cover the
following:
What a Web API is and how it differs from a Web service
The current status of Web APIs in the industry
Calling a Web API using REST (HTTP-GET)
Calling a Web API using HTTP-POST
Calling a Web API using HTTP and SOAP
Web APIs versus Web Services
Web APIs are application programming interfaces that are available over the Internet. They are
also sometimes referred to as Web services. It is helpful to think of a Web API as a series of Web
services, each o ... read full excerpt from Professional Web APIs: Google, eBay, Amazon.com, MapPoint, FedEx ebook