Building RESTful APIs was the most repeated requirement across the adverts we read, from junior roles at Accra startups to remote payment teams. An API (application programming interface) is how a mobile app, a website, a partner company or another service talks to your server. If the database is the memory of a business, the API is its front counter.
What an API looks like
A typical web API is a set of URLs, called endpoints, that accept HTTP requests and return data, usually as JSON. For a shop it might include:
GET /productsto list productsPOST /ordersto place an orderGET /orders/42to see one order
A phone app, a USSD menu, a WhatsApp bot and an admin dashboard can all use the same API. That is the power of it: build the logic once, and many clients can use it.
What makes an API good
Developers who use your API, including future you, want it to be:
- Predictable: similar things work in similar ways. If one list is at
/products, another should be at/customers, not .