Are you a software developer? If so, then you probably have some experience in developing APIs (application programming interfaces) or are planning to start coding some of your own. APIs are an integral part of software development as we know it today. This is because of their main function, which is to allow two separate pieces of software to communicate with each other to exchange data. Without APIs, many of the applications that we rely upon daily may not work at all.
With that said, like any software development project, coding an API can take up a lot of time and resources. Thankfully, there are ways to make API development easier and more efficient, and one such way is by using the OpenAPI specification. In this article, we will be going through the top four reasons why you should be using this particular specification for your next project.
But before that, let’s have a brief recap on what OpenAPI is.
What is the OpenAPI Specification?
The OpenAPI specification is a language-agnostic way to specify or describe a web API with a YAML or JSON document. This specification document usually contains the following information about the API:
- The API’s available endpoints
- The operations on each endpoint
- The expected operation parameters input and output for each operation
- The authentication methods available
- Other details such as contact information, license, and terms of use.
The document, which is written to be readable by both humans and machines, can be considered both as a blueprint of the REST API and an instruction manual. As such, it can be utilized in specific ways that can speed up the development process of an API. Examples of those ways include being used to generate code stubs, API documentation, mock servers, clients, and more.
Now that we’ve defined what exactly is OpenAPI, here are the reasons why you should use this specification for your projects.
It cuts down on the amount of coding work needed to build the API.
When you choose to go with the OpenAPI specification to define your API, you can significantly cut down on the amount of code you need to write. This is because doing so lets you use a specialized OpenAPI specification toolkit, such as Swagger or Stoplight, to automatically generate the code that you need. Examples of these generated codes include server stubs for logic implementation, mock API servers for testing purposes, or API integration code in a different programming language.
It can automatically generate logical and interactive API documentation.
One of the most difficult tasks related to API development is writing its documentation. The API’s documentation is a very important component, as it helps users and developers to have an easier time in understanding how the API works, along with how to integrate it into their projects.
Just like using Swagger along with your API’s OpenAPI description to automatically generate code, you can also create your API’s documentation in the same way. What’s more, by handling the API documentation in this manner, you can rest assured that the result will be logically arranged and pleasant to engage with. It will also have the necessary interactivity features that allow developers to immediately try out your API’s functions. This can significantly aid in increasing your API’s adoption rate among the software development community.
It can assist with API testing efforts.
Your API’s OpenAPI specification document can assist you with testing your API and ensuring its functionality. Besides enabling you to automatically generate mock API servers, the specification document can also serve as a blueprint to test every part of your system against. This is done by importing your API’s specification document into clients like Postman, and then manually running tests from there.
It gives you access to a very large community of users and as a wealth of open-source tools.
The OpenAPI specification is a highly popular one, and as such is backed by a large community of users, as well as by many software companies and prolific coding personalities. This means that you will be able to tap into a substantial pool of experts and established knowledge if you run into a particularly difficult coding problem. Furthermore, it means that you will have access to a wealth of open-source tools developed for this specification, all of which can benefit your API development process in some way, and at little to no cost.
Conclusion
If you are a software developer and you foresee yourself having potential issues with developing web APIs, then consider implementing OpenAPI in your projects. By doing so, you can leverage its above-listed benefits to make your development process more efficient and agile, while also giving yourself the ability to avoid the common pitfalls that you may encounter should you try to code APIs from scratch. Â