5.5 Types of APIs

  1. RESTful APIs: queries for static information at current moment (e.g. user profiles, posts, etc.)
  2. Streaming APIs: real time data (e.g. new tweets, weather alerts…)
  • APIs often have extensive documentation:
    • Written for developers, so must be understandable for humans
    • What to look for: endpoints and parameters.
    • e.g., DeepL API Documentation
  • Most APIs are rate-limited:
    • Restrictions on number of API calls by user/IP address and period of time.
    • Commercial APIs may impose a monthly fee
    • List of APIs in case you need inspiration (see also here)
    • Be respectful
      • Rate-limit your requests (sys.sleep() in loop)
      • Identify yourself (GET(url, user_agent("me@gmail.com thank you")) or token/key)
  • See Best practices