In chapter 24 of our e-book course, we will cover the development of REST APIs with API Gateway and Lambda. REST APIs are one of the most common forms of interaction between systems and are widely used in web and mobile applications. API Gateway and Lambda are services offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that simplify the development and management of REST APIs.
What is REST API?
REST API (Representational State Transfer) is a software architectural style that defines a set of constraints to be used to create web services. REST APIs are based on HTTP and can return data in different formats, such as XML and JSON. They are known for their simplicity and efficiency, being widely adopted in the IT industry.
What is API Gateway?
API Gateway is an AWS service that makes it easy to develop, deploy, and manage REST APIs. It acts as a "gateway" to APIs, routing client requests to the appropriate services. Additionally, API Gateway offers features such as authentication and authorization, rate limiting, monitoring, and more.
What is Lambda?
Lambda is a serverless computing service from AWS that runs your code in response to events, such as changes to data in an Amazon S3 bucket or updates to a DynamoDB table. You can use Lambda to extend other AWS services with custom logic or create your own backend services that operate at scale, performance, and security.
Developing REST APIs with API Gateway and Lambda
Now that we understand what REST API, API Gateway and Lambda are, let's explore how we can use them to develop REST APIs.
First, you need to design your REST API. This involves defining the resources that your API will expose and the operations that can be performed on those resources. For example, if you are developing an API for a blogging application, your resources might include users, posts, and comments, and operations might include create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) these resources.
After you design your API, you can use API Gateway to create the "front door" to your API. This involves defining routes that correspond to your API's resources and operations, and configuring responses for different types of HTTP requests (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.).
You can then use Lambda to implement the backend logic for your API. This involves writing functions that fire in response to HTTP requests made to your API. These functions can interact with other AWS services such as DynamoDB to store and retrieve data, or they can perform any other logic necessary to process the request.
Finally, you can use API Gateway and Lambda together to create a fully functional REST API. API Gateway routes requests to the appropriate Lambda functions, which process the request and return the response to the client. This allows you to create powerful and scalable REST APIs without the need to manage server infrastructure.
Throughout this chapter, we'll explore each of these steps in detail, with code examples and best practices to help you develop your own REST APIs with API Gateway and Lambda.
In summary, developing REST APIs with API Gateway and Lambda is a powerful and efficient way to create scalable backend services. With the combination of these two tools, you can focus on writing your code, while AWS takes care of the infrastructure and scaling.
