New Training: Describe Characteristics of API Styles

In this 6-video skill, CBT Nuggets trainer Ben Finkel teaches you how to interact with remote processes and procedures in your automation and programming projects. Gain an understanding of common methods for Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and how they differ from one another. Watch this new Cisco training.

Learn Cisco network automation with one of these courses:

• Automating APIs and Protocols for Cisco Enterprise Solutions

• Cisco CCNP Automating Cisco Enterprise Solutions

This training includes:

• 6 videos

• 23 minutes of training

You’ll learn these topics in this skill:

• Introduction to API Styles

• Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)

• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

• Representational State Transfer (REST)

• REST In Action

• API Styles Summary

7 Top API Styles: Explained

Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs, can utilize a number of different styles. Each of these has various advantages and disadvantages, making some a better fit than others depending on what the API is designed to do. These are the seven most common styles:

RESTful: The REpresentational State Transfer style defines a set of architectural constraints and agreements. It optimizes HTTP-based infrastructure, scales very well, and has a solid reputation for longevity.

REST-like: A substantial subset of APIs implement some aspects of REST, but not enough to make them truly RESTful. These are classified as REST-like.

GraphQL: Created by Facebook, this powerful API is similar to REST but uses a more dynamic construct.

Falcor: This style applies a virtual layer to map frontend requests to backend services. It creates a virtual JSON resource, then publishes it under a URL address and uses it as a container.

RPC: Remote Procedure Call is an architectural style designed for use in distributed systems and is primarily applied today in JSON-RPC and XML-RPC. The central concept in this style is that procedures can be run on remote machines in a distributed system rather than local machines.

SOAP: Similar to the RPC style, SOAP exposes procedures as central concepts and is the most widely used protocol for web services.

gRPC: This style is language-neutral, platform-neutral, and is widely used for communication across platforms and languages. It uses Protocol Buffers, or protobufs, to maximize speed and efficiency.