What Is An API Framework?
A software framework is just what the name implies. A framework holds already established code, structure, procedures, classes, and functions. The framework can be used in any programming language such as PHP or Python. Any software is built using a framework must work within the parameters of the framework.
With that said, a framework can be supported by an operating system. If you’re developing an Android app, you’ll be using the Android framework. Alternatively, some operating systems require specific frameworks such as a Microsoft.Net framework for working within the Windows system.
To show you how it works, it’s necessary to understand front end and back end development. The end-user taps on an app on whatever device he’s using. He taps on what he needs from the app. The information the end-user wants is passed to the framework. The API then returns the information to the user, having been processed in the framework.
The app process is a combination of servers, APIs, operating systems, and databases that come together to power an app. What the end-user sees and with which he interacts has been established by coding interaction between the framework and the API.
API vs Framework vs Library
Visit a library to read a book. You are the app. The shelves, carts of books, and the building containing all this is the framework. The search for a book and the seat you take to read it is the API. While this might be a bit simplistic, it’s an accurate reading of the question.
A framework can contain libraries of code and APIs from which to draw information for an app.
A library is a group of code used to organize or simplify tasks. Constants, classes, functions, and procedures within a certain language reduce the need to write more code. The library is where you’ll go to get information. The framework is the skeleton holding the library or libraries.
The API is the programming interface allowing you to interact with another application or operating system. It pulls from sources of code within the framework to work with other sources of code or applications of the code. The information pulled communicated through the API. To put it another way, the API is the visible face of the app, while the framework and library are the inner workings of the app.
Which Framework Is Best For REST API?
REST is an anagram for Representional State Trasnfer. What that means is an API will transfer to your API a representation of the state of the resource. As an example, your API contacts Facebook’s API to request a user. REST forwards that user’s name, profile, pictures, the number of friends and followers, posts, and much more. Your API might use REST API if you were an online shopping website like Shopify. Your end-user would sign in with Facebook thus giving your website the consumer’s information.
You can build your API yourself, concentrating on security, URL templates, return links, status codes, and more. This is the most time-consuming and expensive part of the API process. However, it doesn’t have to be like that. You can use a program that does it all for you, while you concentrate on managing the API.
Such a program is GitHub’s Dream Factory. An Integration Platform as a Service, Dream Factory is built on the Laravel framework. It’s free, open-source (GitHub is where over 40 million developers work together to formulate new software, go over code together, and organize projects,) and builds a documented and live REST API. All you do is connect your server and database, and Dream Factory does the rest.