October 2011
Intermediate to advanced
400 pages
9h 23m
English
In this chapter, we’ll be covering APIs—or rather, the transfer of data using ways that aren’t web page-based—by looking at practical examples of how to publish and consume services, along with the theory that underlies how it all works. We’ll talk about the small details, such as the different service types and data formats, as well as big-picture concepts including how using APIs can affect system architecture.
Let’s start out with some definitions. API stands for Application Programming Interface, and it refers to the interface that a particular service, application, or module exposes for others to interact with. We’ll also refer to web services in this chapter, which means we’re talking about ...