Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers Episode 387: Abhinav Asthana on Designing and Testing APIs
Nov 7, 2019
Abhinav Asthana, CEO of Postman, dives into the fascinating world of API design and testing. He highlights the crucial role of public APIs in modern software, discussing various types and when to implement them. Abhinav sheds light on effective design patterns, emphasizing the importance of API schemas and user-centric documentation. Tools like Swagger and Postman are explored for enhancing API development and collaboration. He shares best practices for error handling and maintaining documentation consistency, wrapping up with a nod to Stripe as a standout example.
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APIs: Connecting Software
- APIs connect software, often over a network, enabling communication between applications.
- They range from basic web apps to public APIs offered by companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
When to Offer a Public API
- Expose a public API when a specific part of your application can be used by external developers.
- This allows for extending your application's capabilities or sharing valuable data.
Choosing API Technologies
- Prioritize REST or GraphQL for public APIs, as they are HTTP-based and widely adopted.
- Consider gRPC, Thrift, or Protobuf for internal APIs where high throughput is critical.