Getting Started with our API

[MUSIC] 0:00 Hello and welcome. 0:05 I'm Craig and I'm a developer. 0:06 In this workshop we are going to take on task of implementing an SQL back REST API 0:07 using the Java micro web framework Spark. 0:13 So I hope you understood that mouthful of words I just spouted out. 0:16 If not, there's some prerequisites to this workshop that I've listed in 0:19 the teacher's notes. 0:23 Now, after reviewing those, we'll be on the same page and 0:24 talking the same language. 0:26 As always, there are video controls to slow me way down and speed me up. 0:28 If I start getting bored. 0:33 The ability to build a REST API is becoming more and 0:35 more a required skill that you absolutely need to have in your Java tool bell. 0:38 Client side framework are taking off and 0:43 they expect a backend server to do all the heavy lifting. 0:45 They all almost follow REST out of the box. 0:49 Mobile applications have exploded and just about every company has or 0:51 wants a mobile app these days. 0:56 These apps need to talk to the existing infrastructure and 0:58 usually they do that using REST. 1:01 So, what better way to get started exploring building a REST API 1:03 than using a very straightforward approach to the problem. 1:07 Spark is once again is going to do this for us. 1:10 I thought we'd take a chance with this project to also explore using a database 1:13 implementation and land on a friendly middle ground between raw SQL and 1:17 an object relational mapper. 1:21 We'll also explore using a package that allows us to take our model objects and 1:23 turn them into JSON or JavaScript object Notation. 1:27 So the project that we're going to be building together is a public facing 1:31 REST API that will allow people to review online courses. 1:34 Now there are a ton of online tutorials and we'll be providing a way for 1:38 people to submit a brand new course. 1:42 For instance, something like this. 1:44 A course might be how to beat angry birds. 1:46 That's what the course looks like. 1:48 And then after that you can submit reviews for each course. 1:50 Like a glowing one. 1:53 Five stars. 1:54 Loved it. 1:55 Or one that isn't so great. 1:56 Obviously, when reviewing tree house courses these are going to be 1:58 five out of a possible five. 2:00 But our API is made to exact courses from anywhere. 2:02 So the client of the API can request a list of courses that have reviews 2:06 as well as submit a new course and a new review. 2:10 This aggregating of information is a common use case of software as a service, 2:13 or SAAS. 2:18 Sound fun? 2:19 Let's get this party started. 2:20