APIs for Product Managers :

Of late I have been discussing a lot of APIs with my team.

To narrow it down to what they are, what they do, how we can use them and more

API — Application Programming Interface, simply put is one that enables communication mechanisms between 2 different programs.

APIs give the option to interact with internal, external and specific 3rd party vendors for effective business value returns.

API Architecture :

This contains the following :

1. API Gateway: It deals with security, caching and orchestration specifics.

This is basically the entry point into the internal mechanism.

It manages load balancing capabilities and microservices partition.

Filters the incoming traffic from various devices — web, mobile, B2B, etc.

Entry point layer to expose other third-party APIs, microservices, and virtual machines on the provider’s application server.

1. API Portal : This acts as the bridge between API consumers and providers

This addresses the following :

API analysis

API Documentation

Marketing APIs

Compatibility with web/mobile applications

Defining how they are exposed to internal, partner, and third-party developers

Ways in which APIs Work:

1. SOAP APIs — Simple Object Access Protocol

Client and server exchange messages using XML.

This generally leaves very less flexibility.

2. RPC APIs — Remote Procedure Calls

The client functions in the servers and then sends a response to the client

3. Websocket APIs — These are modern APIs that use JSON objects to pass data.

Most importantly this mechanism enables two-way communication

4. REST APIs — Representational State Transfer, the Most widely used format.

REST defines a set of functions like GET PUT DELETE etc that clients can use to access server data.

Clients and servers use the HTTP protocol to transfer data.

API End-Point:

API endpoints are the final touch points in the API communication system.

It is basically a URL which contains

Base URL — This is more or less like the entry details

For the above example

Endpoint — this can be replaced with another endpoint

Output: How we want to receive the output data

Should it be handled as JSON or XML etc

Parameters: What is that you need from the payload we are going to receive

Types of APIs:

1. Private APIs — Ones build and used for in-house systems to at times communicate with 3rd party subsystems
2. Public APIs — Ones that are available as open source for everyone’s consumption
3. Partner APIs — These are more task-oriented and purpose-driven. Only certain access level qualifiers can use to transfer information securely.

#ProductManagement #ProductManager #API #Technology #KPKR

References :

1. https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/api/#:~:text=API%20stands%20for%20Application%20Programming,other%20using%20requests%20and%20responses.
2. https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/how-to-build-an-api
3. https://hackernoon.com/the-basics-of-designing-an-api-architecture
4. https://gabrymartinez.medium.com/how-to-create-your-own-little-restful-web-api-and-not-get-lost-in-the-process-part-2-473400256ce0
5. All you need to know about APIs | Product Management | PM School