All 7 RESTful API Development with PHP questions
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What is a RESTful API, and how do standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE map to common data operations? How does an API typically use HTTP status codes to communicate the result of a request, and what do common codes like 200, 404, and 500 represent? How does authentication typically work for a RESTful API, and what is the difference between session based authentication and token based authentication using something like a JSON Web Token? How does API rate limiting work, and why is it an important protection mechanism for a public facing RESTful API? How should a RESTful API handle versioning as its design evolves over time, and what are the tradeoffs between common approaches like URL based versioning and header based versioning? How should a RESTful API be designed to handle complex error responses consistently, including validation errors affecting multiple fields at once?
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How should a well designed RESTful API structure its endpoints and URL naming conventions to remain intuitive and consistent as it grows?

Intermediate

Answer

A well designed API typically uses plural nouns to represent resource collections, such as slash products rather than slash product, nests related resources logically, such as slash products slash five slash reviews for a specific product's reviews, uses query parameters for filtering, sorting, and pagination rather than encoding that information into the URL path itself, and maintains consistent naming conventions throughout, all of which make the API significantly more predictable and easier for other developers to learn and correctly use.
GET /api/products?category=electronics&sort=price&page=2
GET /api/products/5/reviews
Real-world example An API design review catches an inconsistency where one endpoint used a singular resource name while every other endpoint used the plural convention, standardizing the naming before the API is published for external developers to consume.

Common follow-ups: How should an API handle versioning as its endpoints evolve over time?;What is the recommended approach for representing pagination information in an API response?

Routing & Middleware;JSON Handling in PHP
All 7 RESTful API Development with PHP questions