(auth.)-Pro REST API Development with Node.js-Apress

191 Pages·2015·7.18 MB·English

Pro REST API
Development
with Node.js
Fernando Doglio
Pro REST API Development with Node.js
Fernando Doglio
La Paz, Canelones
Uruguay
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-0918-9 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-0917-2
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4842-0917-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015941272
Copyright © 2015 by Fernando Doglio
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material
is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting,
reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter
developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly
analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system,
for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only
under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for
use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the
Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every
occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial
fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are
not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to
proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither
the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may
be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
Managing Director: Welmoed Spahr
Lead Editor: Louise Corrigan
Technical Reviewer: Jose Dieguez Castro
Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Gary Cornell, Louise Corrigan, Jim DeWolf, Jonathan Gennick,
Robert Hutchinson, Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Susan McDermott, Matthew Moodie,
Jeffrey Pepper, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Gwenan Spearing, Matt Wade, Steve Weiss
Coordinating Editor: Christine Ricketts
Copy Editor: Kimberly Burton-Weisman
Compositor: SPi Global
Indexer: SPi Global
Artist: SPi Global
Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233 Spring Street,
6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax [phone], e-mail o [email protected] ,
or visit w ww.springeronline.com . Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member (owner) is
Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a Delaware corporation.
For information on translations, please e-mail [email protected] , or visit w ww.apress.com .
Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use.
eBook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special
Bulk Sales–eBook Licensing web page at w ww.apress.com/bulk-sales .
Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this text is available to
readers at w ww.apress.com . For detailed information about how to locate your book’s source code,
go to www.apress.com/source-code/ .
Printed on acid-free paper
To my loving wife, without whom this book would’ve never happened…
Th ank you!

Contents at a Glance
About the Author .....................................................................................................xi
About the Technical Reviewer ...............................................................................xiii
Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................xv
Introduction ...........................................................................................................xvii
■ Chapter 1: Rest 101 ...............................................................................................1
■ Chapter 2: API Design Best Practices ..................................................................25
■ Chapter 3: Node.js and REST ...............................................................................47
■ Chapter 4: Architecting a REST API .....................................................................65
■ Chapter 5: Working with Modules .......................................................................79
■ Chapter 6: Planning Your REST API ...................................................................111
■ Chapter 7: Developing Your REST API ................................................................123
■ Chapter 8: Troubleshooting ...............................................................................167
Index .....................................................................................................................175
v

Contents
About the Author .....................................................................................................xi
About the Technical Reviewer ...............................................................................xiii
Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................xv
Introduction ...........................................................................................................xvii
■ Chapter 1: Rest 101 ...............................................................................................1
Where Did It All Start? ......................................................................................................1
REST Constraints ..............................................................................................................3
Client-Server ..........................................................................................................................................3
Stateless .................................................................................................................................................3
Cacheable ...............................................................................................................................................4
Uniform Interface ....................................................................................................................................5
Layered System ......................................................................................................................................6
Code-on-Demand ...................................................................................................................................7
Resources, Resources, Resources ...................................................................................8
Representations ......................................................................................................................................9
Resource Identifi er ...............................................................................................................................10
Actions ..................................................................................................................................................11
Hypermedia in the Response and Main Entry Point .............................................................................12
Status Codes ..................................................................................................................16
REST vs. the Past ...........................................................................................................18
Summary ........................................................................................................................24
vii
■ CONTENTS
■ Chapter 2: API Design Best Practices ..................................................................25
What Defi nes a Good API? ..............................................................................................25
Developer Friendly .........................................................................................................25
Communication’s Protocol ....................................................................................................................26
Easy-to-Remember Access Points .......................................................................................................26
Uniform Interface ..................................................................................................................................27
Extensibility ....................................................................................................................29
How Is Extensibility Managed? .............................................................................................................30
Up-to-Date Documentation ............................................................................................32
Proper Error Handling .....................................................................................................34
Phase 1: Development of the Client ......................................................................................................34
Phase 2: The Client Is Implemented and Being Used by End Users ......................................................36
Multiple SDK/Libraries ....................................................................................................36
Security ..........................................................................................................................37
Accessing the System ..........................................................................................................................37
Scalability .......................................................................................................................42
Summary ........................................................................................................................45
■ Chapter 3: Node.js and REST ...............................................................................47
Asynchronous Programming ..........................................................................................48
Async Advanced....................................................................................................................................51
Asynchronous I/O ...........................................................................................................54
Async I/O vs. Sync I/O ...........................................................................................................................54
Simplicity........................................................................................................................56
Dynamic Typing ....................................................................................................................................56
Object-Oriented Programming Simplifi ed .............................................................................................57
Prototypal Inheritance ..........................................................................................................................58
Functional Programming Support .........................................................................................................59
Duck Typing ..........................................................................................................................................60
Native Support for JSON .......................................................................................................................60
viii
■ CONTENTS
npm: The Node Package Manager ..................................................................................61
Who’s Using Node.js? .....................................................................................................63
Summary ........................................................................................................................63
■ Chapter 4: Architecting a REST API .....................................................................65
The Request Handler, the Pre-Process Chain,
and the Routes Handler ..................................................................................................66
MVC: a.k.a. Model–View–Controller ...............................................................................69
Alternatives to MVC ..............................................................................................................................72
Response Handler ..........................................................................................................76
Summary ........................................................................................................................78
■ Chapter 5: Working with Modules .......................................................................79
Our Alternatives ..............................................................................................................79
Request/Response Handling .................................................................................................................79
Routes Handling ...................................................................................................................................80
Middleware ...........................................................................................................................................80
Up-to-Date Documentation ...................................................................................................................81
Hypermedia on the Response ...............................................................................................................81
Response and Request validation.........................................................................................................81
The List of Modules ..............................................................................................................................82
Summary ......................................................................................................................109
■ Chapter 6: Planning Your REST API ...................................................................111
The Problem .................................................................................................................111
The Specifi cations ..............................................................................................................................113
Choosing the Right Modules for the Job.............................................................................................120
Summary ......................................................................................................................121
ix