APIs & Web Services#
A comprehensive learning path covering the design, implementation, security, and evolution of modern APIs and web services. From RESTful principles to GraphQL, from authentication patterns to async event-driven architectures.
What You’ll Learn#
This path takes you from foundational REST principles through advanced API patterns used in production systems at scale.
| Section | Topic | Key Skills |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | REST Principles | Constraints, HTTP semantics, resource modelling |
| 02 | API Design | URL design, pagination, error handling, bulk ops |
| 03 | Authentication & Authorization | OAuth2, JWT, RBAC, ABAC |
| 04 | OpenAPI & Documentation | Spec authoring, code generation, contract-first |
| 05 | Versioning & Evolution | Strategies, deprecation, lifecycle management |
| 06 | Rate Limiting & Throttling | Algorithms, headers, distributed limiting |
| 07 | GraphQL | Schema design, resolvers, N+1, pagination |
| 08 | Webhooks & Async APIs | Delivery guarantees, signatures, event patterns |
Prerequisites#
Before starting this path, you should be comfortable with:
- HTTP fundamentals — methods, headers, status codes, request/response cycle
- JSON — reading and writing JSON structures
- Basic networking — DNS, TCP/IP, TLS (covered in the Networking path)
- At least one programming language — examples use Python and JavaScript
- Command-line tools — curl, httpie, or similar HTTP clients
Who This Is For#
- Backend developers designing APIs for the first time
- Frontend developers wanting to understand the APIs they consume
- Architects evaluating API strategies (REST vs GraphQL, sync vs async)
- Engineers maintaining and evolving existing API surfaces
Recommended Approach#
Work through sections 01–03 sequentially — they build on each other. Sections 04–08 can be explored in any order based on your immediate needs.