Understanding 16 Key API Terms for Developers

🚀 Built a clean and minimal REST API to sharpen my backend fundamentals! Kept it lightweight with a simple in-memory array as the data store — perfect for getting hands-on with real CRUD workflows before bringing in a full database. Tech I leveraged: ✨ Express.js for routing ✨ body-parser for handling request bodies ✨ nodemon for auto-reload ✨ Postman for API testing Endpoints implemented: ✔ GET – fetch users ✔ POST – add users ✔ PUT – update users ✔ DELETE – remove users This mini-build helped me double-down on: 👉 How routes actually work under the hood 👉 The difference between req.body, req.query, and req.params 👉 Real PUT/DELETE behavior during testing 👉 Why middleware order matters Keeping it simple, scalable, and future-ready. Database integration coming soon. 💪🔥

🚀 REST API Tip: Does 404 mean 204? 🤔 Many developers get confused between HTTP 404 and HTTP 204 when designing APIs, and this can lead to unexpected behavior for API consumers. 📌 Let’s clarify the difference: 🔹 204 No Content Indicates that the operation was successful, but the server has no content to return. Example: DELETE /users/123 If the user with ID 123 existed and was deleted successfully, the server might return 204 No Content. ✅ Operation succeeded – but no data to return. 🔹 404 Not Found Indicates that the requested resource does not exist. Example: DELETE /users/999 If there’s no user with ID 999, the server returns 404 Not Found. ❌ The resource you tried to delete does not exist. ⚠️ Common mistake: Returning 404 instead of 204 when the delete operation succeeds but there’s nothing to return. Remember: 404 means the resource was never there, not “there’s no content to show.” 🧠 Key takeaway: ✅ 204 → Operation successful, but no content. ❌ 404 → Resource not found. 🎯 Use the right status code to make your API clear and predictable. #software #software_developers #restful #api #rest_api #status_code

I worked extensively on building REST APIs and noticed that you don't have to know every HTTP status code but these 11 status codes are the ones which you will use almost 95% of the time : 📍 100 : This status code indicates that the initial part of the request has been received and the server would like the client to send the rest of it. 📍 102 : This status code indicates the server is still processing the request. 📍 200 : This status code indicates that the request was successful, and the server returned the requested data. 📍 201 : This status code means that the request was successful, and the server created a new resource. 📍 204 : This status code indicates that the request was successful, but the server did not return any data. 📍 400 : This status code indicates that the request is invalid. 📍 401 : This status code lets the client know that it is not authorized to access the requested resource. 📍 404 : This status code indicates that the requested resource was not found on the server. 📍 429 : This status code is used when a user sends too many requests in a given amount of time. 📍 500 : This generic error code indicates the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request. 📍 503 : This status code is returned when the server is temporarily unable to handle the request. #dataengineer #softwaredevelopment #data

Why Every API Should Have Proper Error Handling?? Building APIs is easy. Handling errors properly that’s what makes an API reliable. When something goes wrong, don’t just throw a 500 error or a random message. A good API should tell what went wrong and why in a clear way. For example: { "status": 400, "error": "Invalid Input", "message": "Email format is incorrect" } This helps both developers and users understand the issue quickly. Simple tips: ✅ Use correct HTTP status codes (400, 404, 500, etc.) ✅ Always return a clear message ✅ Never expose sensitive data in error responses ✅ Log all errors internally for debugging Good error handling doesn’t just fix bugs it builds trust. #SpringBoot #API #ErrorHandling #BackendDevelopment #CleanCode

🚀 Top 5 common ways to improve API performance every backend developer should know! 📄 𝟏. 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - When your API returns large datasets (e.g., list of users, products, or orders), sending everything at once is slow and memory-heavy. Pagination splits results into smaller chunks (pages). Example: • 𝙶𝙴𝚃 /𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚜?𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎=𝟸&𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝=𝟸𝟶 🛢️ 𝟐. 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 - Frequently accessed data can be stored in a cache to speed up retrieval. Clients check the cache before querying the database, with data storage solutions like Redis offering faster access due to in-memory storage. 🗜️ 𝟑. 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 - Before sending a response, the server can compress the data using algorithms like GZIP, Brotli, etc. The client decompresses it automatically. Benefits: • Greatly reduces data transfer size (especially for JSON). • Improves speed over slow networks. • No change needed on client side — browsers or HTTP clients handle it. 🔗 𝟒. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐥 - Each API request often needs to connect to a database or another service. Creating a new connection each time is expensive — it takes time and system resources. - Connection pooling reuses existing open connections instead of creating new ones for every request. Benefits: • Reduces connection overhead. • Reduces latency and improves throughput. • Prevents “too many connections” errors under load. ⚡ 𝟓. 𝐀𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 - Normally, when your API handles a request, it might write logs (e.g., to a file or database). If this logging happens synchronously, the API waits for the log operation to finish before sending the response — which slows down performance. - Asynchronous logging makes the logging run in the background, so the request can finish faster. - This approach involves sending logs to a lock-free buffer and returning immediately, rather than dealing with the disk on every call. Logs are periodically flushed to the disk, significantly reducing I/O overhead. 👉 Over to you: 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑨𝑷𝑰 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆? (Image Credit: - ByteByteGo)

A To-Do List API is more than just CRUD. It’s a chance to implement real-world features like user authentication and data persistence while honing your backend skills. Test your skills and build a RESTful API to allow users to manage their to-do list. 🗒️

"without persistence, you can't simulate any operation that mutates data. And those operations are the ones with the highest probability of generating misalignment between API designers and stakeholders." https://lnkd.in/dPQSCcBg

A while ago, I hit a GET API in production… and to my shock, it modified the database! 😳💥 GET requests should never change data — this was a very bad API design. ❌ Quick tip about REST API methods and idempotency: POST → Non-idempotent ⚠️ Calling it multiple times creates multiple resources. Example: POST /orders → Each call creates a new order. 🛒 PUT → Idempotent ✅ Calling it multiple times keeps the same result. Example: PUT /users/123 → Updates user 123; multiple calls don’t create duplicates. 👤 Good API design isn’t just about functionality — it’s about trust, predictability, and reliability. 🔧✨

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You are building a Rest API. You've just implemented an Exception handler to catch exceptions thrown by your controllers and services. Your team has a shared library with marker Exception classes. You're using one, which you throw to indicate that a client request contains references to records that do not exist in the database. As you handle this exception in your handler which http status code would you return to the client? a. 404 Not Found b. 204 No Content c. 304 Not Modified d. 400 Bad Request e. 406 Not Acceptable