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Making an API call is like connecting to a database for data. You setup a connection, make a request, and receive results. Some requests require authentication, and results are primarily received in either XML or JSON.
Additional Resources
Getting Started with GitHub API Documentation
Authentication Types
There are 3 ways an API may allow a connection.
- Public Endpoints no authentication needed. Simply request a url and receive the results.
- Basic Authentication such as a username and password or other credentials.
- Token-based Authentication such as OAuth. The application asks to share specific information between the applications, and when the user chooses to grant permission, a token is stored on the user's machine.
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Application programming interfaces, or
APIs, provide a method for connecting
0:00
your website to a third-party Web
service like Dropbox, Google, or GitHub.
0:05
It's kind of like connecting
to a database for data.
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You set up a connection, make a request,
and receive the results.
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These results are primarily
returned in either XML or JSON.
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Both XML and JSON are human readable and
computer readable, and
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just about any programming language comes
with standard libraries to parse XML and
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JSON quickly and easily.
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This promotes the easy
sharing of data on the web.
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There is no single universal API.
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Each site has its own, and
not all sites offer an API for you to use.
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The first step for using any API
is to look up the documentation.
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The documentation should tell you how to
connect, and what actions are available.
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Let's take a look at the GitHub API.
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Let's search for GitHub API.
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Before using any API, you should make
sure to check the Terms and Conditions.
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Make sure that your planned usage does
not violate the Terms of Service.
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According to the GitHub API documentation,
all API access is over HTTPS,
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and accessed from the api.github.com URL.
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All data is sent and received as JSON.
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There are three ways an API
may allow a connection.
1:35
First, an API can have a public endpoint
without any authentication needed.
1:38
Simply request a URL,
and receive the results.
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Second, an API can allow basic
authentication, such as username and
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password, or other credentials.
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Finally, there's token based
authentication like OAuth.
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The application asked to share specific
information between the applications.
2:00
And when the user chooses
to grant permission,
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a token is stored on the user's machine.
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GitHub supports all
three of these methods,
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depending on what you're trying to do.
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Although, most of the time,
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GitHub requires that you pass at
least the username as the user agent.
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You won't be able to read private data, or
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update your account without
some sort of authentication.
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Username alone is not enough.
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For unauthenticated requests,
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the rate limit allows you to
make up to 60 requests per hour.
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Unauthenticated requests are associated
with your IP address, and
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not the user making the request.
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For a request using basic authentication,
or
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OR, you can make up to
5,000 requests per hour.
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Let's make our first request.
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Launch the workspace attached to
this video, and open the console.
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You can also use a terminal or
command line directly from your computer.
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Using the console will allow us
to quickly test an endpoint.
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Let's type curl
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https://api.github.com /users,
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and then /treehouse.
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We receive a JSON feed of
the treehouse user information.
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You can issue a get request to
the root end point to get all
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the endpoint categories
that the API supports.
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Let's go back to the documentation and
look at a few more endpoints.
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GitHub gives us a lot more than just
user information including issues.
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Projects, pull requests,
repositories and more.
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Let's take a look at repositories.
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We want to list user repositories.
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Remember, you won't see private
repositories, unless you're authenticated.
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Let's try the same treehouse request, but
this time, we'll add /repos to the end.
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Now we receive a JSON feed
of public repositories.
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Take some time to familiarize yourself
with some of the documentation and
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endpoints that the good hub API supplies.
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The Getting started section of
the guide is a great place to start.
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