This content provides a comprehensive overview of various API (Application Programming Interface) types, explaining their fundamental concepts, use cases, and distinguishing features to help understand how different applications communicate and exchange data.
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REST API. What is a REST API? Well,
think of REST API like a waiter at a
restaurant. You tell the waiter what you
want, they go to the kitchen, get it,
and bring it back to you. That's exactly
what a REST API does between your app
and a server. REST stands for
representational state transfer. Fancy
words that basically mean a simple way
for applications to talk to each other
over the internet. REST uses the same
HTTP methods you already know from web
browsing. Get to retrieve data like
asking show me all users. Post to create
something new like add this new user.
Put to update existing data and delete
to remove it. Let's say you're building
a social media app. When you want to
show user profiles, your app sends a get
request to something like api.mmyapp.com/users/1
and boom, you get back all of J's
profile info in a nice, clean JSON
format. REST is stateless, means each
request is completely independent. The
server doesn't remember your previous
requests, which means it can handle
millions of users without getting
confused about who asked for what. Rest
is also platform independent. Your
iPhone app, Android app, web app, and
even your smart fridge can all talk to
the same REST API. But REST isn't formal
enough for your bank transfers and
enterprise systems. That's where SOAP
API comes in. SOAP API. SOAP or simple
object access protocol is one of the
oldest and most formal ways that systems
communicate with each other. If REST is
like a casual phone call, SOAP is more
like a formal business contract. Every
message must follow strict rules and
comes wrapped in XML with a very
specific structure, an envelope to wrap
everything, a header for metadata, and a
body that holds the actual request or
response. One of SOAP's strengths is
that it's protocol independent. While
it's most commonly used over HTTP or HTTPS,
HTTPS,
it can also run on SMTP, TCP, or other
protocols. And because it has built-in
standards for error handling, security,
and transaction support, SOAP is often
trusted in industries where reliability
and precision matter most. That's why
banks, healthcare providers, and
government systems still rely heavily on
SOAP today. For example, when you
transfer money between banks, there's a
good chance a SOAP API is working behind
the scenes, ensuring the transaction is
secure and correctly processed. SOAP
might not be as lightweight or flexible
as REST, but when you need guaranteed
delivery, strict contracts, and
enterprisegrade reliability, SOAP is the
go-to choice. GRPC API. Before we talk
about gRPC, let's step back to RPC or
remote procedure call. RPC is the idea
that instead of sending raw data over
the network, your app can directly call
a function on another machine as if it
were local. For example, you write get
user 123 in your code and behind the
scenes that request travels across the
network, runs on the server and returns
the result. But early RPC systems like
XML, RPC or JSON RPC had problems. They
were slower, textheavy and didn't scale
well for today's massive realtime apps.
That's where gRPC comes in. GRPC is
Google's higherformance modern take on
RPC. Think of it as the Formula 1 race
car of APIs built for speed,
performance, and precision. While REST
sends textbased JSON over HTTP, gRPC
uses protocol buffers or protobu, which
compress data into a compact binary
format that's lightning fast to process.
It's like the difference between mailing
a handwritten letter versus zipping all
your files and sending them instantly.
GRPC also takes advantage of HTTP2,
allowing multiple requests to run over a
single connection at the same time. And
here's the best part. GRPC supports four
powerful communication patterns. Simple
request response just like REST. Server
streaming for live updates, client
streaming for sending continuous data.
and birectional streaming where both
sides can chat at once in real time. The
performance gains are massive, often 7
to 10 times faster than rest in many
scenarios. That's why gRPC is the secret
weapon behind systems like Netflix,
Uber, and highfrequency trading
platforms. GraphQL API. GraphQL stands
for graph query language, and it's about
to change how you think about APIs
forever. Created by Facebook, GraphQL is
the game-changing query language that's
revolutionizing how we fetch data.
Here's the problem that GraphQL solves.
In the case of REST APIs, you often get
too much or too little data. Need a
user's name and email? Rest might send
you their entire profile, address,
preferences, and shopping history.
That's called overfetching, and it
wastes bandwidth. Or worse, you might
need to make multiple API calls to get
everything you need. That's underfetching.
underfetching.
GraphQL flips this completely. You write
one query asking for exactly what you
want, like just give me the username and
email, skip everything else. One end
point, one request, perfect data every
time. But the killer feature of GraphQL
is real-time subscriptions. Your app can
listen for live update automatically.
Plus, GraphQL is self-documenting with a
built-in playground where you can test
queries instantly. GitHub's entire API
is built on GraphQL. Shopify and
Pinterest all use GraphQL in production.
If you're building modern applications
where performance matters, users are on
mobile devices, and you want to give
front-end developers the flexibility to
request exactly what they need. GraphQL
might just be your new best friend. But
sometimes you don't just want to fetch
data, you want to be notified the
instant something changes. That's where
web hooks come in. Web Hook API. Imagine
this. With most APIs, your app is like
someone constantly checking their
mailbox. You walk outside, open it, see
nothing, and walk back over and over
again. That's how traditional APIs work.
Your app has to ask the server every
time it wants to know if something new
happened. But web hooks flip that model
completely. Instead of you asking, the
API calls you. It's like the mailman
ringing your doorbell the moment a
letter arrives. Instant, direct, and
efficient. Let's see how it works. You
set up a callback URL in your
application. Whenever an event happens,
like a new payment, a code push, or a
form submission, the service sends a
post request with the event details
straight to your callback URL. No
polling, no wasted requests, just
real-time updates. That's why web hooks
are often called reverse APIs. Instead
of your app chasing the data, the data
comes chasing your app. You'll find web
hooks powering nearly every modern
application like GitHub fires web hooks
when new code is pushed. Shopify
triggers them when an order is placed.
Slack and Discord bots rely on web hooks
for commands and real-time reactions.
From automating workflows to keeping
systems instantly in sync, web hooks are
the invisible backbone of real time web
development. Websockets API. Websockets
are like opening a permanent phone line
between your app and the server. Once
the connection is established, both
sides can talk to each other anytime
instantly. No more waiting for the
client to ask a question like with
traditional HTTP.
Here's how it works. It starts with a
handshake. Your browser sends a special
HTTP request saying, "Let's upgrade this
to a websocket connection." The server
agrees. They shake hands. And from that
point on, the channel stays open. This
gives you a persistent two-way
communication line, which is perfect for
real-time applications. Unlike regular
HTTP where the client always initiates,
websockets allow the server to push data
to you the moment something happens.
Think about getting a stock price
update, a chat message, or a game event
the instant it occurs. That's the power
of websockets. And it's flexible, too.
You can send plain text, JSON for
structured data, or even binary files
like images and videos. Web RTC API. Web
RTC or Web Realtime Communication isn't
just a single API. It's a full framework
that enables direct peer-to-peer
communication between browsers or mobile
apps. And here's the magic. The data
doesn't need to flow through a central
server. That's why Web RTC powers things
like video calls, screen sharing, online
gaming, and instant file transfers. All
happening right inside your browser with
no extra software.
Think about your last Zoom or Google
Meet Call. When you're talking, your
video and audio are sent straight from
your device to the other person's
device. No server in the middle storing
or processing your private conversation.
It's direct and real time. Behind the
scenes, WebRTC takes care of the messy
networking details. It figures out NAT
traversal so devices can talk across
different networks. It automatically
negotiates the best audio and video
formats. And it uses adaptive bit rate
streaming, which means it constantly
adjusts quality depending on your
internet speed. The result, no server
bottlenecks, faster communication, and
smoother realtime experiences.
That's why WebRTC is the backbone of
modern video conferencing, realtime
collaboration tools, and peer-to-peer apps.
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