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Introduction to GraphQL

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What is GraphQL

2:35 with Isaac Lee Morris

In this video, we’ll go over GraphQL at a high level, and learn about some of its more exciting features.

New Terms:

  • Schema - A special kind of document that describes how a GraphQL endpoint can receive and send information
  • Query Language - The syntax we use to write GraphQL queries that retrieve data from an endpoint
  • Self-documenting API - An API that can be easily understood just by reading its schema -- no extra documentation needed

Further Reading:

GraphQL Documentation: Introduction to GraphQL
GraphQL Documentation: Schemas and Types

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    [MUSIC] 0:00
    Hi there, I'm Isaac Lee and welcome to introduction to GraphQL. 0:04
    In this course, I'll show you a whole new method for 0:10
    fetching data from your backend. 0:12
    You'll learn how to request data in the exact shape we wanna get it, make changes 0:14
    to our data, and use some handy tricks to make our code even more reusable. 0:19
    GraphQL is composed of two main parts, the query language, 0:24
    which is used to request data, and the framework that processes these queries. 0:28
    In this course, we'll be focusing on the query language, 0:34
    which is the meat of GraphQL. 0:36
    GraphQL's unique language allows us to specify the exact format 0:39
    that we want to receive our data in. 0:43
    Other benefits of GraphQL will include self documenting APIs, 0:46
    the ability to fetch deeply nested data in a single request and 0:50
    the ability to mount GraphQL in front of any existing API. 0:54
    So what exactly do we mean by self documenting API? 0:59
    This just mean that by looking at the API's schema, 1:03
    it's easy to understand what the data coming out of it will look like. 1:06
    Let's take a quick look at an example schema. 1:11
    As you can see, the schema looks a lot like JSON, 1:14
    without knowing anything else like GraphQL. 1:18
    I can guess that this movie object will have an ID field, 1:20
    a title field, a tagline field, and the studio field. 1:24
    Since the schema is expressed in a format we're familiar with, 1:29
    you can easily predict which queries will work and which ones won't. 1:32
    Building on this concept makes fetching deeply nested data easier than ever. 1:37
    If we need data that is nested inside of another object, like Studio for 1:43
    example, we can just look at the schema for the nested object. 1:47
    Which in this case, is the Studio type. 1:50
    And right away, we know which fields are available for our response. 1:53
    Lastly, GraphQL is super flexible as a backend. 1:58
    When it comes to developing new APIs, you can start from scratch 2:02
    with a GraphQL server that communicates directly with your database. 2:06
    However, if you already have an API that's responsible for communicating with 2:10
    your database, you can just bolt GraphQL right in front of that API. 2:14
    GraphQL doesn't care where the data comes from which makes it useful for 2:19
    a wide variety of applications. 2:23
    We won't be covering how to implement a GraphQL backend in this course. 2:25
    Just know that when it comes time to, 2:29
    GraphQL can be implemented in just about any environment. 2:31

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