CoderLyn's developer journey

Intro to Web API

Lyn Tee's photo
Lyn Tee
·

1 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87oOF9Ve-KA&t=2199s

What I learnt

  • There are two types of web APIs

    • Minimal API

    • API using Controllers (not sure what this is called - full? normal?)

These APIs serve users. The users aren't necessarily humans.

  • Users can be another application

  • The API is a User Interface

  • A UI doesn't need to have buttons etc. If you expect visual things to interact with, then that's a GUI (graphical user interface)

  • But because APIs serve users, they have a UI. And because the users can be non-human, there is no GUI required

Minimal APIs are really great for microservices

Microservices typically have 1-3 endpoints.

  • So the minimal API construct keeps the code in Program.cs very lean and easy to read, without needing all the Controller code that a full API comes with

The user has no idea whether you are using a full API or minimal API behind the scenes.

  • It's just personal preference
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