Application programming interface API development lab experiments with solutions

Developing an Application Programming Interface (API) often involves a series of lab-style

experiments to explore and test various aspects of the API, from design to functionality and
integration. Below are some common lab experiments or exercises, along with possible solutions,
that could be conducted during API development:

### 1. **Designing the API Endpoints**

**Experiment**: Design a RESTful API for a hypothetical e-commerce platform. Define endpoints for
products, orders, and users, and determine what HTTP methods should be supported (e.g., `GET`,
`POST`, `PUT`, `DELETE`).

**Solution**:
- **Products Endpoint**:
- `GET /products`: Retrieve a list of products
- `GET /products/{id}`: Retrieve a specific product by ID
- `POST /products`: Add a new product
- `PUT /products/{id}`: Update a product by ID
- `DELETE /products/{id}`: Delete a product by ID
- **Orders Endpoint**:
- `GET /orders`: Retrieve a list of orders
- `POST /orders`: Create a new order
- `PUT /orders/{id}`: Update an order by ID
- **Users Endpoint**:
- `GET /users`: Retrieve a list of users
- `GET /users/{id}`: Retrieve a user by ID
- `POST /users`: Create a new user
- `DELETE /users/{id}`: Delete a user by ID

### 2. **Authentication and Authorization**

**Experiment**: Implement a secure authentication mechanism using OAuth2, JWT, or API keys.
Add role-based access control (RBAC) to different endpoints (e.g., only admins can delete products).

**Solution**:
- Use **JWT (JSON Web Token)** for secure stateless authentication:
- Client logs in and receives a JWT token.
- Token is sent in the header of subsequent requests (e.g., `Authorization: Bearer <token>`).
- On the server side, verify the token and decode user info.
- Implement **RBAC**:
- Define roles such as `admin`, `user`, etc.
- Check role-based permissions in middleware before allowing actions like `DELETE /products`.

### 3. **API Rate Limiting and Throttling**

**Experiment**: Set up rate limiting to prevent abuse. For instance, allow users to call the API 100
times per hour and block further requests once the limit is reached.

**Solution**:
- Use middleware like **express-rate-limit** (for Node.js) or **Django Rest Framework’s
Throttling** (for Python):
- Define rate limits (e.g., `100 requests/hour` per IP address or API key).
- Configure blocking or returning HTTP status code `429 (Too Many Requests)` when the limit is
exceeded.

### 4. **Error Handling and Validation**

**Experiment**: Implement error handling and validation mechanisms for inputs. For example,
ensure that a product creation request has all required fields and that their values are valid (e.g.,
price is a positive number).

**Solution**:
- Use schema validation libraries like **Joi** (for Node.js) or **pydantic** (for Python):
- Validate request payloads for required fields and correct data types.
- Return appropriate HTTP error codes such as `400 (Bad Request)` for invalid inputs.
- Example in Node.js:
```javascript
const Joi = require('joi');
const productSchema = Joi.object({
name: Joi.string().required(),
price: Joi.number().greater(0).required(),
});

app.post('/products', (req, res) => {

const { error } = productSchema.validate(req.body);
if (error) return res.status(400).send(error.details[0].message);
// Process valid product creation
});
```

### 5. **API Versioning**

**Experiment**: Implement versioning for the API so that older clients can still work with the API
even when breaking changes are introduced.

**Solution**:
- Add versioning to the URL or header:
- URL-based versioning: `/api/v1/products`, `/api/v2/products`
- Header-based versioning: Use custom headers like `Accept: application/vnd.company.v1+json`
- Maintain backward compatibility by routing requests to the correct version based on the URL or
header.

### 6. **API Documentation**

**Experiment**: Create auto-generated documentation for the API that developers can use to
understand how to interact with it.

**Solution**:
- Use tools like **Swagger** or **Postman** for automatic API documentation:
- Define API endpoints, expected request/response formats, and example inputs/outputs in a YAML
or JSON format (for Swagger).
- Generate interactive API documentation for developers to test endpoints directly in the browser.
- Example Swagger YAML:
```yaml
swagger: "2.0"
info:
version: "1.0.0"
title: "E-commerce API"
paths:
/products:
get:
summary: "Get all products"
responses:
200:
description: "List of products"
```

### 7. **API Caching**

**Experiment**: Implement caching to improve performance for frequently accessed resources,

such as product listings.

**Solution**:
- Use a caching layer such as **Redis** or HTTP caching (using response headers like `Cache-
Control`).
- Cache responses for frequent `GET` requests and set an appropriate expiration time.
- Invalidate the cache when data changes (e.g., after a `POST` or `PUT` request).

### 8. **Testing the API**

**Experiment**: Write unit tests and integration tests for the API to ensure that all functionality
works as expected.

**Solution**:
- Use testing libraries like **Mocha/Chai** (for Node.js) or **pytest** (for Python):
- Write unit tests for individual functions like data validation.
- Write integration tests to ensure that endpoints return expected results.
- Example Mocha test:
```javascript
const request = require('supertest');
const app = require('../app');
 describe('GET /products', () => {
it('should return all products', async () => {
const res = await request(app).get('/products');
expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(200);
expect(res.body).toBeInstanceOf(Array);
});
});
```

### 9. **API Monitoring and Analytics**

**Experiment**: Implement logging and monitoring to track API usage and identify issues such as
slow response times.

**Solution**:
- Use tools like **Loggly**, **ELK Stack**, or **New Relic** for monitoring and alerting.
- Log requests and responses, along with metadata like response times and error rates.
- Set up alerts for abnormal patterns, like sudden spikes in error rates.

### 10. **Handling Asynchronous Operations**

**Experiment**: Implement asynchronous tasks in the API, such as background job processing for
tasks like sending emails after an order is placed.

**Solution**:
- Use job queues like **RabbitMQ** or **Bull** (for Node.js) to handle background tasks:
- When an order is placed, queue the task to send an email confirmation.
- Allow the API to respond immediately while the email is processed asynchronously.

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These experiments cover many core aspects of API development. For each one, implementing
solutions involves working with relevant frameworks, libraries, and best practices in your tech stack.