0:05 REST API. What is a REST API? Well,
0:07 think of REST API like a waiter at a
0:09 restaurant. You tell the waiter what you
0:10 want, they go to the kitchen, get it,
0:12 and bring it back to you. That's exactly
0:14 what a REST API does between your app
0:17 and a server. REST stands for
0:20 representational state transfer. Fancy
0:22 words that basically mean a simple way
0:24 for applications to talk to each other
0:26 over the internet. REST uses the same
0:29 HTTP methods you already know from web
0:32 browsing. Get to retrieve data like
0:35 asking show me all users. Post to create
0:38 something new like add this new user.
0:41 Put to update existing data and delete
0:43 to remove it. Let's say you're building
0:46 a social media app. When you want to
0:48 show user profiles, your app sends a get
0:50 request to something like api.mmyapp.com/users/1
0:57 and boom, you get back all of J's
1:00 profile info in a nice, clean JSON
1:03 format. REST is stateless, means each
1:05 request is completely independent. The
1:07 server doesn't remember your previous
1:09 requests, which means it can handle
1:10 millions of users without getting
1:14 confused about who asked for what. Rest
1:16 is also platform independent. Your
1:19 iPhone app, Android app, web app, and
1:21 even your smart fridge can all talk to
1:24 the same REST API. But REST isn't formal
1:26 enough for your bank transfers and
1:29 enterprise systems. That's where SOAP
1:33 API comes in. SOAP API. SOAP or simple
1:36 object access protocol is one of the
1:38 oldest and most formal ways that systems
1:41 communicate with each other. If REST is
1:43 like a casual phone call, SOAP is more
1:45 like a formal business contract. Every
1:48 message must follow strict rules and
1:50 comes wrapped in XML with a very
1:53 specific structure, an envelope to wrap
1:55 everything, a header for metadata, and a
1:57 body that holds the actual request or
2:00 response. One of SOAP's strengths is
2:02 that it's protocol independent. While
2:05 it's most commonly used over HTTP or HTTPS,
2:06 HTTPS,
2:10 it can also run on SMTP, TCP, or other
2:12 protocols. And because it has built-in
2:15 standards for error handling, security,
2:18 and transaction support, SOAP is often
2:20 trusted in industries where reliability
2:23 and precision matter most. That's why
2:25 banks, healthcare providers, and
2:27 government systems still rely heavily on
2:30 SOAP today. For example, when you
2:32 transfer money between banks, there's a
2:35 good chance a SOAP API is working behind
2:37 the scenes, ensuring the transaction is
2:40 secure and correctly processed. SOAP
2:42 might not be as lightweight or flexible
2:44 as REST, but when you need guaranteed
2:46 delivery, strict contracts, and
2:49 enterprisegrade reliability, SOAP is the
2:53 go-to choice. GRPC API. Before we talk
2:56 about gRPC, let's step back to RPC or
2:59 remote procedure call. RPC is the idea
3:01 that instead of sending raw data over
3:03 the network, your app can directly call
3:05 a function on another machine as if it
3:08 were local. For example, you write get
3:11 user 123 in your code and behind the
3:12 scenes that request travels across the
3:15 network, runs on the server and returns
3:18 the result. But early RPC systems like
3:22 XML, RPC or JSON RPC had problems. They
3:24 were slower, textheavy and didn't scale
3:28 well for today's massive realtime apps.
3:31 That's where gRPC comes in. GRPC is
3:33 Google's higherformance modern take on
3:36 RPC. Think of it as the Formula 1 race
3:38 car of APIs built for speed,
3:41 performance, and precision. While REST
3:45 sends textbased JSON over HTTP, gRPC
3:48 uses protocol buffers or protobu, which
3:50 compress data into a compact binary
3:53 format that's lightning fast to process.
3:55 It's like the difference between mailing
3:57 a handwritten letter versus zipping all
4:00 your files and sending them instantly.
4:03 GRPC also takes advantage of HTTP2,
4:06 allowing multiple requests to run over a
4:09 single connection at the same time. And
4:11 here's the best part. GRPC supports four
4:14 powerful communication patterns. Simple
4:17 request response just like REST. Server
4:19 streaming for live updates, client
4:22 streaming for sending continuous data.
4:24 and birectional streaming where both
4:28 sides can chat at once in real time. The
4:30 performance gains are massive, often 7
4:32 to 10 times faster than rest in many
4:35 scenarios. That's why gRPC is the secret
4:38 weapon behind systems like Netflix,
4:39 Uber, and highfrequency trading
4:44 platforms. GraphQL API. GraphQL stands
4:46 for graph query language, and it's about
4:48 to change how you think about APIs
4:51 forever. Created by Facebook, GraphQL is
4:53 the game-changing query language that's
4:55 revolutionizing how we fetch data.
4:57 Here's the problem that GraphQL solves.
5:00 In the case of REST APIs, you often get
5:03 too much or too little data. Need a
5:06 user's name and email? Rest might send
5:08 you their entire profile, address,
5:10 preferences, and shopping history.
5:12 That's called overfetching, and it
5:14 wastes bandwidth. Or worse, you might
5:16 need to make multiple API calls to get
5:18 everything you need. That's underfetching.
5:19 underfetching.
5:22 GraphQL flips this completely. You write
5:24 one query asking for exactly what you
5:26 want, like just give me the username and
5:29 email, skip everything else. One end
5:31 point, one request, perfect data every
5:34 time. But the killer feature of GraphQL
5:36 is real-time subscriptions. Your app can
5:38 listen for live update automatically.
5:41 Plus, GraphQL is self-documenting with a
5:42 built-in playground where you can test
5:46 queries instantly. GitHub's entire API
5:49 is built on GraphQL. Shopify and
5:52 Pinterest all use GraphQL in production.
5:54 If you're building modern applications
5:56 where performance matters, users are on
5:58 mobile devices, and you want to give
6:01 front-end developers the flexibility to
6:04 request exactly what they need. GraphQL
6:06 might just be your new best friend. But
6:08 sometimes you don't just want to fetch
6:09 data, you want to be notified the
6:11 instant something changes. That's where
6:15 web hooks come in. Web Hook API. Imagine
6:17 this. With most APIs, your app is like
6:19 someone constantly checking their
6:21 mailbox. You walk outside, open it, see
6:24 nothing, and walk back over and over
6:27 again. That's how traditional APIs work.
6:29 Your app has to ask the server every
6:30 time it wants to know if something new
6:33 happened. But web hooks flip that model
6:35 completely. Instead of you asking, the
6:37 API calls you. It's like the mailman
6:39 ringing your doorbell the moment a
6:41 letter arrives. Instant, direct, and
6:43 efficient. Let's see how it works. You
6:45 set up a callback URL in your
6:48 application. Whenever an event happens,
6:50 like a new payment, a code push, or a
6:52 form submission, the service sends a
6:54 post request with the event details
6:56 straight to your callback URL. No
6:59 polling, no wasted requests, just
7:01 real-time updates. That's why web hooks
7:04 are often called reverse APIs. Instead
7:06 of your app chasing the data, the data
7:09 comes chasing your app. You'll find web
7:10 hooks powering nearly every modern
7:13 application like GitHub fires web hooks
7:16 when new code is pushed. Shopify
7:18 triggers them when an order is placed.
7:21 Slack and Discord bots rely on web hooks
7:23 for commands and real-time reactions.
7:25 From automating workflows to keeping
7:28 systems instantly in sync, web hooks are
7:30 the invisible backbone of real time web
7:34 development. Websockets API. Websockets
7:36 are like opening a permanent phone line
7:38 between your app and the server. Once
7:40 the connection is established, both
7:42 sides can talk to each other anytime
7:44 instantly. No more waiting for the
7:46 client to ask a question like with
7:48 traditional HTTP.
7:50 Here's how it works. It starts with a
7:52 handshake. Your browser sends a special
7:55 HTTP request saying, "Let's upgrade this
7:57 to a websocket connection." The server
8:00 agrees. They shake hands. And from that
8:02 point on, the channel stays open. This
8:04 gives you a persistent two-way
8:06 communication line, which is perfect for
8:09 real-time applications. Unlike regular
8:12 HTTP where the client always initiates,
8:14 websockets allow the server to push data
8:17 to you the moment something happens.
8:18 Think about getting a stock price
8:20 update, a chat message, or a game event
8:22 the instant it occurs. That's the power
8:26 of websockets. And it's flexible, too.
8:28 You can send plain text, JSON for
8:30 structured data, or even binary files
8:35 like images and videos. Web RTC API. Web
8:38 RTC or Web Realtime Communication isn't
8:41 just a single API. It's a full framework
8:43 that enables direct peer-to-peer
8:45 communication between browsers or mobile
8:47 apps. And here's the magic. The data
8:49 doesn't need to flow through a central
8:52 server. That's why Web RTC powers things
8:55 like video calls, screen sharing, online
8:57 gaming, and instant file transfers. All
9:00 happening right inside your browser with
9:02 no extra software.
9:04 Think about your last Zoom or Google
9:06 Meet Call. When you're talking, your
9:08 video and audio are sent straight from
9:10 your device to the other person's
9:13 device. No server in the middle storing
9:16 or processing your private conversation.
9:20 It's direct and real time. Behind the
9:22 scenes, WebRTC takes care of the messy
9:25 networking details. It figures out NAT
9:27 traversal so devices can talk across
9:29 different networks. It automatically
9:31 negotiates the best audio and video
9:34 formats. And it uses adaptive bit rate
9:36 streaming, which means it constantly
9:37 adjusts quality depending on your
9:40 internet speed. The result, no server
9:43 bottlenecks, faster communication, and
9:45 smoother realtime experiences.
9:48 That's why WebRTC is the backbone of
9:50 modern video conferencing, realtime
9:52 collaboration tools, and peer-to-peer apps.
