Intro to Node.js and APIs

APIs

Application Program Interfaces are a set of rules dictating how applications should interact. When discussing APIs in the contet of the web, we are usually referring to the process we use to post information to a website or database or pull information from a website or database.

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation is a data format used extensively on the web. It was developed for easy parsing within JavaScipt.

JSON is written in name|value pairs "name":"Jake"
Array:

{
"employees":[ "John", "Anna", "Peter" ]
}

{

"employees":[ "John", "Anna", "Peter" ]

}

Objects can have several sub-object:

{
"employee":{ "name":"John", "age":30, "city":"New York" }
}

{

"employee":{ "name":"John", "age":30, "city":"New York" }

}

An object with objects and an array:

{
  "name":"jake",
  "age" : 34,
  "friends" [ "jim", "eric", "katie"],
  "day" : "wed"
}

{

"name":"jake",

"age" : 34,

"friends" [ "jim", "eric", "katie"],

"day" : "wed"

}

Example JSON

{ created_at: 'Wed Feb 08 21:37:22 +0000 2017',
  id: 829444033101586400,
  id_str: '829444033101586440',
  text: 'In a Rare Zoo Escape, Sunny the Red Panda Is Still at Large https://t.co/mhOT4z8NIu https://t.co/8vHtTlqbmQ',
  display_text_range: [ 0, 83 ],
  source: '<a href="http://publicize.wp.com/" rel="nofollow">WordPress.com</a>',
  user:
   { id: 972385555,
     id_str: '972385555',
     name: 'Walkileaks',
     screen_name: 'walkileaks',
     location: 'United States',
     url: 'http://www.walkileaks.com',
     protected: false,
     utc_offset: -28800,
     is_translator: false,
     notifications: null },
  geo: null,
  coordinates: null,
  place: null,
  contributors: null,
  is_quote_status: false,
  retweet_count: 0,
  favorite_count: 0,
  entities:
   { hashtags: [],
     urls: [ [Object] ],
     user_mentions: [],
     symbols: [],
     media: [ [Object] ] },
  extended_entities: { media: [ [Object] ] },
  timestamp_ms: '1486589842473' }

{ created_at: 'Wed Feb 08 21:37:22 +0000 2017',

id: 829444033101586400,

id_str: '829444033101586440',

text: 'In a Rare Zoo Escape, Sunny the Red Panda Is Still at Large https://t.co/mhOT4z8NIu https://t.co/8vHtTlqbmQ',

display_text_range: [ 0, 83 ],

source: '<a href="http://publicize.wp.com/" rel="nofollow">WordPress.com</a>',

user:

{ id: 972385555,

id_str: '972385555',

name: 'Walkileaks',

screen_name: 'walkileaks',

location: 'United States',

url: 'http://www.walkileaks.com',

protected: false,

utc_offset: -28800,

is_translator: false,

notifications: null },

geo: null,

coordinates: null,

place: null,

contributors: null,

is_quote_status: false,

retweet_count: 0,

favorite_count: 0,

entities:

{ hashtags: [],

urls: [ [Object] ],

user_mentions: [],

symbols: [],

media: [ [Object] ] },

extended_entities: { media: [ [Object] ] },

timestamp_ms: '1486589842473' }