Intro to JavaScript APIs

a hands-on approach how to write, use, and consume REST APIs in JavaScript

This course will teach you how to write, use, and consume REST APIs in JavaScript.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are constructs made available in programming languages to allow developers to create complex functionality more easily. They abstract more complex code away from you, providing some easier syntax to use in its place.

Client-side JavaScript, in particular, has many APIs available to it — these are not part of the JavaScript language itself, rather they are built on top of the core JavaScript language, providing you with extra superpowers to use in your JavaScript code.  While there are many APIs available in JavaScript we often have to write our own custom API to allow transitions and access to data in our application.

A REST API is a way of easily accessing web services. When a RESTful API is called, the server will transfer to the client a representation of the state of the requested resource. A RESTful API is stateless, separates concerns between client-server, allows caching of data client-side and it utilizes standardized base URLs and methods to perform the actions required to manipulate, add, or delete data.

Each section is designed to be completed in one day, along with a hands-on practice activity to be completed before moving on to the next module.

This course assumes the following as prerequisite knowledge:

• Intermediate to Advanced JavaScript

• Use of the Browser DOM

• Use of database CRUD transactions

• Basics of Node.js