Backend & APIs
Learn Web API
A web API is a set of endpoints over HTTP that other software calls to read or change data. It is how a mobile app, a browser front end, or another service talks to your system.
Why teams use it
- One API can serve a web front end, a mobile app and an internal tool without duplicating business rules.
- A clear contract lets front-end and back-end work proceed in parallel.
- HTTP is understood everywhere, so integration is rarely blocked by protocol choices.
Where you will meet it
When a mobile app shows a list of customers, it is almost always calling a web API endpoint that queries a database and returns JSON.
What to learn, and in what order
Work through these roughly in order. Jumping to the advanced list before the basics are solid is the most common way people get stuck.
Beginner
- What an API is and is not
- HTTP methods and status codes
- JSON request and response bodies
- Designing your first endpoints
Intermediate
- REST principles applied pragmatically
- DTOs and why you avoid returning entities directly
- Validation and consistent error shapes
- Pagination, filtering and sorting
- Documenting with OpenAPI
Advanced
- Versioning strategies
- Authentication and scoped authorization
- Idempotency and safe retries
- Caching and performance under load
Have a project worth talking through?
Tell us what you're building or what's slowing your current system down. We'll give you a direct read on scope and approach.