Swagger


    Swagger allows you to describe the structure of your APIs so that machines can read them. The ability of APIs to describe their own structure is the root of all awesomeness in Swagger. Well, by reading your API’s structure, we can automatically build beautiful and interactive API documentation. We can also automatically generate client libraries for your API in many languages and explore other possibilities like automated testing. Swagger does this by asking your API to return a YAML or JSON that contains a detailed description of your entire API.

Characteristics of a well-designed API

  • Easy to read and work with: A well designed API will be easy to work with, and its resources and associated operations can quickly be memorized by developers who work with it constantly.
  • Hard to misuse: Implementing and integrating with an API with good design will be a straightforward process, and writing incorrect code will be a less likely outcome. It has informative feedback, and doesn’t enforce strict guidelines on the API’s end consumer.
  • Complete and concise: Finally, a complete API will make it possible for developers to make full- fledged applications against the data you expose. Completeness happens over time usually, and most API designers and developers incrementally build on top of existing APIs. It is an ideal which every engineer or company with an API must strive towards.