Managing REST API Data

[MUSIC] 0:00 Typically, when you're building an application, 0:04 you store application data in a database such as PostgresSQL or MongoDB. 0:07 Depending on which database you choose, you'd likely use some kind of library, 0:11 known as an ORM, or object-relational mapping, 0:16 to facilitate the communication between your express app and your database. 0:18 Some examples of ORM's include Mongoose for MongoDB and SQLize for 0:23 SQL based databases. 0:27 An ORM makes it easier to retrieve, manipulate, save, and 0:29 validate the data in your database. 0:32 For example, an ORM might provide a method to save new information to the database or 0:35 create or update a new piece of data. 0:40 While many of the basic concepts are the same, whether you're using Mongoose, 0:43 or SQLize, or something else entirely, each technology has a specific 0:46 way of doing things along with a breadth of advanced features. 0:50 Learning to use an ORM can get complex, 0:54 enough that it could warrant its own course. 0:57 Same with setting up, configuring, and using a database. 0:59 In this course we want to concentrate on just the concepts you need 1:02 to know to create a rest API, independent of database and ORM technologies. 1:06 For these reasons our application isn't going to use a database or an ORM. 1:11 Instead, we've provided a module containing a few key functions for 1:16 building out our app. 1:20 Open up the project files if you don't have them open already. 1:21 To keep things simple and focused we're going to store the data for 1:24 our rest API in this json file called data.json. 1:29 Think of the data.json file as a mock database, 1:32 a data store where we can save and persist information for our API. 1:35 Open it and you'll see that we have a JSON object containing an array of quotes. 1:40 And each quote has a unique ID number, the text of the quote, and an author. 1:44 Let's take a look at the records.js module. 1:49 You can think of this module as a very, very basic ORM. 1:53 As you can see, there's a method to get quotes from our data store, 1:57 a method to get one quote, and so on. 2:02 We'll see how to use these functions later in the course. 2:05 Keep in mind that the purpose of the records.js module, 2:09 is to allow us to work with some data for our API without a lot of overhead. 2:12 So don't worry too much about understanding exactly what the code in 2:16 this module is doing. 2:19 We're actually making these functions available specifically so 2:20 that you don't need to worry about it. 2:23 Which is also purpose of ORMs, like Mongoose and SQLize. 2:25 To abstract away some of the repetitive and or 2:29 tedious parts of interacting with the data store. 2:31 Once you've completed this course you'll be able to take the basic 2:34 concepts you've learned here and apply them to ORM. 2:38 After you're familiar with how to build an API, you'll have some conceptual knowledge 2:41 that will help you dig into PosGres with SQLize, MongoDB with Mongoose, or 2:45 whatever other technology you decide to use to store and interact with your data. 2:49 In the next video, we'll refactor our get routes using the records.js module and 2:53 our data.json file, 2:58