REST APIs - Getting Started

What is a REST API? - https://restfulapi.net/

HTTP Request Lingo

When you are looking for answers, it helps to ask the right questions. If you want to get information from a REST API then you need to understand HTTP request methods.

HTTP Requests in JavaScript

I made my first API request with Fetch from a browser. Since then I have been learning more about Node and using Axios to interact with REST APIs.

Example Usage (GitHub REST API)

const projectNames = [];

try {
  console.log("Fetching GitHub projects...");
  const result = await axios.get(process.env.API_URL);
  result.data.forEach((element) => {
    projectNames.push(element.name);
  });
  console.log(`My GitHub project names:\n${projectNames.join(", ")}`);
} catch (error) {
  console.log(error);
}

Example output

Fetching GitHub projects...
My GitHub project names:
CRA-Starter, FCC-Front-End-Libraries-Projects, FCC-JavaScript-Algorithms-and-Data-Structures-Projects, FCC-Responsive-Web-Design-Projects, github-react-portfolio-template, mshuber1981, next-starter, Portfolio, react-contact-form, work-life

My work life in JSON

I have to look at it so often now, when people start describing problems to me at work now I catch myself thinking about key-value pairs and what things might be objects vs arrays. This is a great resource to understand what JSON is and why it is important.

A beginner’s guide to JSON, the data format for the internet