APIs for Beginners 2023 - How to use an API (Full Course / Tutorial)

What is an API? Learn all about APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) in this full tutorial for beginners. You will learn what APIs do, why APIs exist, and the many benefits of APIs. APIs are used all the time in programming and web development so it is important to understand how to use them.
You will also get hands-on experience with a few popular web APIs. As long as you know the absolute basics of coding and the web, you'll have no problem following along.
This course has been updated from a previous version.
💻 Teacher’s Notes: twil.io/notes-api-course
🎥 Course created by Craig Dennis, Developer Educator at Twilio
🐦 Craig on Twitter: @craigsdennis
⭐️ Contents ⭐️
Unit 1 - What is an API
⌨️ Video 1 - Welcome (0:00:00)
⌨️ Video 2 - Defining Interface (0:04:50)
⌨️ Video 3 - Defining API (0:08:49)
⌨️ Video 4 - Remote APIs (0:13:59)
⌨️ Video 5 - How the web works (0:18:17)
⌨️ Video 6 - RESTful API Constraint Scavenger Hunt (0:23:21)
Unit 2 - Exploring APIs
⌨️ Video 1 - Exploring an API online (0:29:06)
⌨️ Video 2 - Using an API from the command line (0:45:01)
⌨️ Video 3 - You go Curl (0:56:20)
⌨️ Video 4 - Using tools to explore APIs (1:14:21)
⌨️ Video 5 - More tools for your API exploring toolbox (1:36:20)
⌨️ Video 6 - Using Helper Libraries (1:48:34)
Unit 3 - All Together Now
⌨️ Video 1 - Introducing the Project (2:15:30)
⌨️ Video 2 - Serverless (2:23:30)
⌨️ Video 3 - Writing a Server Side API (2:37:08)
⌨️ Video 4 - Fetching Results on the Client from our Server (2:56:54)
⌨️ Video 5 - Wrap Up (3:05:29)
🎉 Thanks to our Champion and Sponsor supporters:
👾 Nattira Maneerat
👾 Heather Wcislo
👾 Serhiy Kalinets
👾 Erdeniz Unvan
👾 Justin Hual
👾 Agustín Kussrow
👾 Otis Morgan
--
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[@SelahadinJemal]

"Education isn't meant to be binged and because of this, I'll probably remind you quite a bit to take breaks." ~ The best quote I've heard today.

[@robertpaupard1265]

Gap learning is great

[@dahuchsi]

So far, this video was done RIGHT, and anyone that watches it knows exactly what I mean.

[@jera9654]

Paused at 4m to get a burrito. Looks great so far though!

[@paul8marsh]

I wonder if they are allowed to say "HE wrote the code" xD

[@paul8marsh]

Cause statistically it's more likely to be HIM lmao

[@keenoogodlike]

Best api course ever. I never saw any teachers make learning course enjoyable as much as Craig Dennis. He even teach people to take their time to relax and think.

[@latinbishop1722]

Can u deploy a production api after the course

[@keenoogodlike]

@@latinbishop1722 of course not, the point of video is to explain api

[@dileeshaabilash5562]

seriously🔥🔥

[@fx-studio]

Its terrible - too much unnecessary chat complicating matters, bad descriptions that look more like built in adverts and what's his obsession with Byonce doesn't he even know its a m an?

[@rheagalsim7497]

Absolutely love the tone and approach to this course, and thank you for making this free!

[@Overlord_Rei]

Wow this video came up at the right time.. Thank you FCC.. And thank you Craig for making this a fun journey. You have done a really amazing job at not making this tutorial a boring one. I really loved the breaks and the things you did to keep the learning interesting throughout the video. I wish we had more trainers / teachers like you! You rock!

[@MrHoboninjapirate]

Hey everyone, unfortunately he is right about the Spotify page being different. Problem is, they've removed the ability to generate authentication tokens and curl statements in the browser and while still possible, it's a much more difficult process. I'd recommend just watching the Spotify part and then jumping in at the Twilio part.

[@Rentaplace]

That makes sense! You said it's still possible to generate the tokens in the browser, how do you do that? I have been stuck on this step for over a week now. Thanks.

[@MrHoboninjapirate]

@@Rentaplace Sorry, I meant that it's been removed from the browser and you have to generate your authentication token externally, making the request in your language/tool of choice. The nice thing is, I would not linger on the Spotify part. The very next API he teaches, Twilio, has it's authentication token available in the browser and then he shows tools like Postman that will show you how to go back to Spotify and make that authentication token. Just watch and do the rest of the video and then come back and do the tougher Spotify part after, you will know 100% how to handle it.

[@Runeblade484]

Thanks, I decided to come to the comments to see if other people had trouble with the changes to spotify.

[@donatusvictor3500]

@@Runeblade484 I'm stuck here don't know how to generate the API token. How did you get it?

[@stoxyroxxy]

@@MrHoboninjapirate Thank you for saying this! I've been struggling here for a bit trying to get an auth token and thought it was me.

[@TheMakIraq]

I was assigned a task at my job to do some testing automation using APIs and this course was a huge help. Always try to find a real world problem or something to apply what you learn to for maximum advantage

[@endtropi]

The teacher earns my attention from the first second. this video was recommended by youtube and i am so excited! I am learning python, and why not to take a course on api's by a great instructor? so excited! Your students and your family must be proud of you. I have take so many online courses, i have to say you have the best way of teaching. Thank you

[@sanyamjain6166]

This educator immediately reminds me of my favourite teacher of all time. I was 14 in 9th grade in New Delhi, and the teacher was Mr Atri and he taught us Mathematics. An absolutely brilliant man, and an amazingly intriguing teacher who taught me mathematical concepts, that I still remember to this day, and I'm almost 35 years old now.

[@nateruttinger8145]

Absolutely love the energy, wonderful instructor!! Thank you all so much for the free knowledge ❤

[@magetaaaaaa]

I learned about this concept in school but it was only briefly covered in a database class and I never understood the point of it until my last job. They were manually configuring hundreds of appliance-type devices through their web UI's which took hours of work. One small change request was many more hours of work again. I realized that these appliances had an API and we were able to reduce hours of work into minutes by writing scripts that took a list of IP's and sent API commands to each device in the list. I did the same thing on another project and cut my estimated completion time in half. As someone who is in IT but is not a developer, even I could see the enormous power and potential of the API. It opens the door to automation, which reduces human error dramatically. It also speeds up onboarding. I am looking forward to watching this course and learning more about API's and their other uses.

[@yatharthshah]

Really excited for this one. Saw the first one more than 5 times and enjoyed it everytime. Love that it is once again being refreshed.

[@7footmoustache]

Welcome back!

[@pitchblack5422]

I really love this man's energy he makes learning not feel cumbersome at all

[@user-rj3se5hy6l]

I want Craig Dennis to teach me all the hard things in life: explain clearly and positively, tell me that it's okay to pause, give yourself time, be patient - these are important steps in any new business👏👏👏

[@sarcasmbanega5997]

Hi Elena.. Are you a Web-Developer?

[@all_tutorials609]

This is excellent. I followed through from start till finish nobody could make developing and programming easier than this beautiful piece of tutorial. Thank you for your sincere effort to helping others. I will watch over and over until I am able to independently build APIs and consume same.

[@borisvorobjev2673]

Your style of delivering the material is absolutely fantastic. Thank you for your hard work!

[@JustPerfectDesigns]

Is this the best teacher I've ever come across? 🤔 Yes it definitely is! I love this man. Made learning so funful and enjoyable. You just can't skip any part. I rewind when I miss a single statement. Thanks a bunch for letting him teach. ❤

[@tyt9602]

This is a big move of educational revolution. I have started my self study programming journey from fcc (from zero level) and right now I am in confidence level. THANKS A LOT the whole fcc org and god bless u all. From Burma..

[@kRystal69]

Was waiting for an API course for a while!!! 🎉

[@sabaokangan]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us on KZbin ❤️‍🔥 from Kyoto 🇯🇵 His API course is hands down the most accessible and life-changing for dummies like me

[@yaroslavdromov]

This guy is amazing. I am wondering how he makes study so enjoyable. I want my kid has teachers like him. Even breaks are included. Wow.

[@fakefake947]

Thank you for making this free, I feel such great gratitude! ^^

[@GregWidener]

This is SOOO good! Thank you for this awesome course! I feel the power!

[@jade6614]

I was just watching the old version. Great to have a more detailed version

[@Amd107]

for those wondering what was that on 10:22: it's in ruby language, chr(ord('y') ^ 0x20): 1. ord('y') : The `ord` method in Ruby returns the ASCII code of the character passed to it. In this case, `ord('y')` returns the ASCII code for the character 'y', which is 121. 2. 0x20 : This represents the hexadecimal value 20, which is equivalent to 32 in decimal. 3. `^` (XOR operator): The XOR (exclusive OR) operator performs a bitwise XOR operation on the binary representations of two numbers. 4. ord('y') ^ 0x20 This bitwise XOR operation is performed between the ASCII code of 'y' (121 in decimal) and 32. The result is 89. 5. chr(89): The `chr` method in Ruby converts an ASCII code to its corresponding character. In this case, `chr(89)` returns the character with the ASCII code 89, which is 'Y'. So, the overall expression `chr(ord('y') ^ 0x20)` takes the character 'y', performs a bitwise XOR with 32, resulting in the ASCII code 89, and then converts that ASCII code back to the character 'Y'.

[@noteasyclap517]

Well done for the info. I like how you broke it down into pieces for better explanation.

[@codingstrade]

Detailed Explanations! Great Course for beginners

[@alexanderdorodeiko8374]

Thank you so much for this course! It's very well made, useful and better than some paid courses I have seen.

[@azaniastudios4253]

This course has been an incredibly fruitful experience for me, and I can confidently say that it's one of the best things I've ever done in my life. As someone who has been programming for almost a decade, gaining a deep understanding of how APIs work has taken my skills to a whole new level. I'm truly grateful to have had the opportunity to take this course, and I want to express my appreciation to those who made it possible. This is exactly how education should be: interactive, engaging, and straight to the point. The practical, hands-on approach of the course has allowed me to learn and apply new concepts quickly and effectively, and I'm confident that the knowledge I've gained will prove invaluable in my future endeavors. Thank you again for creating such a fantastic learning experience.

[@alexrowe9638]

HA. A decade. I started to learn coding JS and scratched some html and css since a month ago and whenever i meet a new term like i did with API i take a course. I can not help myself to not know things while i do something and i think it will be my doom in the programming world as i got the feel it would take me forever to grasp all the concepts and terminology..

[@pandu7820]

Yeah can you explain the upper() is method or api In this course he said that to change to upper we all need is api

[@mthoko]

You are a brilliant and gifted educator. Thank you

[@krm5693]

For the windows user, I'd suggest using gitbash instead of the command prompt. That way, the commands used in cURL are the same just like mac and linux.

[@morenokv]

😂 I have been stuck on this part for an hour trying to get it to work. Thanks!

[@mando6707]

can you be more specific about using windows at @1:54:00, i'm a bit lost can retrieve the token nor the SID and i can't move on

[@krm5693]

@@mando6707 are you using command prompt, gitbash, or another terminal?

[@yanicktekam6121]

Yo bro, use npm init at the base of your directory to start node project@@mando6707

[@s0ydarius]

I was stuck on this until I realized I wasn't the only one. Thanks for your comment!

[@codewithguillaume]

Wow this is the kind of teacher that inspires me the most! Thank you

[@terripinan1876]

Just, only watched this, will go back and do all the bits n bobs. Great course, explained stuff to me in the words that I needed. Thank you!

[@meanrambler2295]

Wow, what a great timing!! Will update here once done..

[@ekaterinagololobova8809]

Oh, this is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much, you are a fantastic teacher!

[@sibabratabiswal1064]

44:45 you got me Craig. Ofcourse with this level of engagement of anyone would binge your tutorials ❤❤

[@perschonca]

This educator is really engaging. Great job.

[@miguelwheelock5529]

Awsome vid... I can only thank you for your effort and time by delivering this amazing tutorial.

[@hirookenji]

Man, the asynchronous js I learned a month ago finally synced in when I watched the video 6. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS!!!!! Awesome tutorial.

[@alquadizmi]

The way you explain never makes me bored, thanks!

[@Mylo_madness03]

THIS GUY IS AMAZING He’s hit all the right spots of a good course!! 😊

[@Hacking-NASSA-with-HTML]

Thank you so much sir🤝 Your work is very impressive👍❤

[@matts9728]

I haven't made it through this yet, but this is very good. Great work

[@danielwaduka5740]

Very well explained sir. I have loved the examples. Thanks so much!

[@Ben-gh1bz]

This video is amazing. I can listen to this guy all day. Thank you very much

[@FabioGiacomini]

Thank you very much, a very good job. I hope to learn more about API and this is a good beginning.

[@syedibraheemzeeshan806]

Perfect video for API, thanks, Dennis!

[@debiprasad02]

I wish we had teachers like him in our schools and colleges that would have made us better learners!

[@artistpw]

I was summonded for jury duty on the day I was supposed to start a new gig. I had to explain what an API was to the judge. My little wheels were churning so I didn't sound condescending but explained it enough. I came up with the Rosetta Stone translations that couldn't all be stored on a phone so API calls from a little phone app would be made to a website or cloud repository.

[@nde810]

Very fun and cool, I will finish it by tomorrow to have a total understanding of API before using it

[@animetium]

This is the course that actually thought me how to work with API's

[@semi.elsharef]

Thank you so much. I learned a lot about APIs from this course.

[@sahilbani7020]

just 10 min into this video and I fell in love with his teaching. WOW

[@seasn5553]

dude you’re such an awesome instructor. i hope to one day be like you!

[@MedWassimBerrima]

Amazing course ! I've purchased a course from Udemy that I followed during days and didn't understand APIs to be honest. But this video made a lot of things very clear

[@momoproblems0]

This is an excellent video! Thanks very much for providing this great content!

[@Snowflake_Maja]

I got a project to manage APIs and this course helped me sooo much to better understand what am I getting myself into 😂. Thank you soooo much!

[@emmanuelgenga7421]

Awesome course only issue was that I was not able to complete the send text request since the twilio api links to members of the US only and I cannot be able to send messages. Thank you for the course, really helpful for starters.

[@Alejandro00710]

This video was amazing, great, just great, thanks fcc and Craig for your dedication.

[@gabrielc3303]

Thank you so much for this 🙏🙌❤️

[@cookinma]

I wish every KZbin video would encourage me to get up and move around for a bit! Love it!!

[@arnaualegri6270]

Great video. Spotify have updated their dev page and now it's quite hard to get the OAuth token (it's not as simple as in the video) Would be good if the notes have this in mind

[@arnaualegri6270]

I found a post from spotify community --> Web API Reference "Get Token" button where they give you a working solution

[@coalitea]

I'm so hyped, and that teacher hypes me even more! Explations superb!

[@sumirandahal76]

i've been waiting for this, thank you

[@zahirshaikh3535]

This is really very excited to me and the host is awesome and the interaction with people is woow

[@UniversalHuman7]

You are Wonderful! Thank You for blessing Us all with Your wisdom and Expertise.

[@kopilkaiser8991]

Definitely a tutorial to watch for learning with immersive experience.

[@evgenboychuk8962]

very clear video, thanks, everything's clear!

[@ratliffgreg]

What a great video! This couldn't be better explained. Thanks! And, BTW, is that an 8-track player on the table, next to the chair? How old school cool!?

[@TheJavascriptWay]

Let me just thank you! Before watching this video API's were so scary to me. These days I feel a bit more confident because of your help. Thanks.

[@nstamate]

An excellent instructor explaining a not so easy topic

[@sharbaniroy7679]

Loved loved loveddddd this! Thank you ❤

[@beckyb9215]

this is awesome, thank you!

[@whatisiswhatable]

this course was brilliantly taught..

[@azeez8399]

Thank you for this lecture.

[@pakidude89]

2 minutes into the course and already 'I'm Lovin It'

[@evvie01]

Thank you I am trying to catch up on technology enough to understand what is being said. Everything is connected to, used by, or based on other things, codes, protocols... okay that list could go on. But the only thing I knew about API's was that my WordPress needed one and I have to update mine every once in a while. I knew it was a type of identifier but that was all. Then I started hearing more talk about API's in the talks on AI (Artificial Intelligence)

[@ihanhansaja5596]

nice explanation!!! thank you sir.!!!

[@CAMILOH]

You guys are amazing what a great job ❤

[@user-wp7hs9iz2s]

I love this class! Anyone else getting a 502 Error for the Twilio Developer Documentation?

[@user-xj9kx8wq1r]

He is just such an awesome person. I'v never been to a class where the teacher asks me to take a break

[@stanley880902]

It's amazing that he keeps telling us to take a break when I tried to binge the video :))

[@craigdennis1154]

Not my first rodeo 🤠

[@khoroshoigra8388]

I like the way the tutorial incorporated humor 😁Thumbs up!

[@user-fc2fg3wc9s]

Great course, the teacher explain very good each content

[@alexgraham3529]

Thanks for this - helped tonnes.

[@Nathanael_R]

Craig's videos always radiate warmth

[@7footmoustache]

🤗

[@linahussain2838]

Very informative! thank you !

[@aes5350]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

[@pradnyeshmate1317]

the video is so well created the editing is extremely good and the explaination is good the fact that first few episodes are just exaplaination is good really good

[@alexandergeorgesquire220]

This content is so well put together 🎉 thanks

[@mentalist6703]

You are so great 😍, I was waiting for your video ☺️ thanks a lot

[@lumguerra]

Thank you! You guys are awesome!

[@foxtrotwhisky4061]

Unfortunately it looks like Spotify have changed their web developer user interface (in the UK at least) and the process for getting started with using Spotify's API is very different to how it looks in this tutorial. There is no longer a console that you can access from your browser, you have to install multiple "packages" locally on your machine. Spotify have made a tutorial (spread over a dizzying number of hyperlinked pages) to build an app. So in order to do the first tutorial for this video which requires the console, I went through some of the process (not knowing what I was installing or what I was doing) to try and get a command line environment that accesses Spotify's API, and eventually gave up. It didn't seem like that process was going to get me to a point where I could do the exercise in the video! :( Maybe Spotify view having their own tutorial as an even more accessible developer environment, but it made following this video impossible for me.

[@gabirilwan1987]

i also have the same problem and i'm really frustrated to be honest

[@screwy115]

Same@@gabirilwan1987 Really frustrating I finally found a course with a teacher that seems great and none of it works.

[@simonbernbeck86]

Amazing way of teaching!!

[@JLonuz]

I love how he teaches this guy, he reminds me of Jesse from Breaking Bad. I have understood things and learned new concepts so I see the light! Thanks!

[@maurov6861]

Amazing tutorial to follow 😋

[@Localhost3001]

i can't belive i just saw this video for free. you guys are incredible

[@murtadha96]

Fabulous course! Thank you ♥️

[@TripleMasterA]

Feedback: Please mention about windows not needing the backslashes in the terminal earlier. You mention it around 1:07:30 when it would have been better to mention it before actually copying and pasting cURL stuff into the terminal

[@haudangnguyentien1131]

Your lecture was interesting, it was fun and I'm sure it was very helpful by many people's comments. I feel like I still didn't grasp 100% of what you talked about the first time. I may need to review it many times. Thanks for the useful video! 🥰

[@NNNedlog]

Thanks for this awesome tutorial

[@fuad.mdfuadul]

I didn't know that + thing in gmail. Thank you. Will help me a lot.