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Understanding Web APIs: Concepts, Applications, and Implementation Techniques

This resource explores the significance of Web APIs in modern applications, discussing how they enable automation and handle complex data. It introduces key concepts such as RESTful architecture, data interchange formats like JSON, and common HTTP methods. The material provides practical guidance for using APIs with Perl modules and utilities including wget and curl. Examples from the Ensembl REST services and TogoWS illustrate real-world applications in scientific research. Gain a comprehensive understanding of how Web APIs function and their importance in data-driven scenarios.

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Understanding Web APIs: Concepts, Applications, and Implementation Techniques

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  1. Web API: Why THEY matter ECOL 453/553 2012 Nirav Merchant nirav@email.arizona.edu

  2. What is a web API • API: Application Programming Interface • Calling API over the web (http) • What is this http thing you keep talking about ? • So why do you want to call API over the web ? • Data size • Data Complexity • Linked data • Specialized databases and data structure • It allows for automation (mashup, workflows) • How is this different then a perl module ?

  3. Where have you seen web API • Internet apps • Science apps • http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory/1?apicat=Medical&protocol=REST • We willuseEBI and TogoWS for ourclasstoday • Getting started …

  4. Some terms • RESTful(Representational State Transfer) • Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software ArchitecturesFielding, Roy Thomas (2000)Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Irvine • Some concepts • GET • POST • PUT • DELETE

  5. JSON (and some xml) • JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)lightweight data-interchange format • It is easy for humans to read and write • It is easy for machines to parse and generate • It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language • Built on two structures: • A collection of name/value pairs. (object, record, struct, dictionary, hash table, keyed list, or associative array) • An ordered list of values(array, vector, list, or sequence)

  6. JSON example

  7. Exercise (more terms) • Go tohttp://togows.dbcls.jp/site/en/rest.html • Let’sfollowsome URL • Nowcanyou do this for 100 id’s ? • Log on to your HPC account • Utilities youneed • wget • curl • JSON pretty printing: python –mjson.tool • Unix pipe | to connect things together

  8. http://beta.rest.ensembl.org More exercise

  9. http://beta.rest.ensembl.org/documentation/info/feature_regionhttp://beta.rest.ensembl.org/documentation/info/feature_region

  10. Lets look at perl TAB on the page • What modules do we need • use HTTP::Tiny; • use JSON; • use strict; • use warnings; • use Data::Dumper;

  11. Lets get the ones we are missing • http://search.cpan.org

  12. How do we get the module • wget to rescue • Copy and paste url ! • tar –xvzf <downloaded file> • Make a directory in your homeperl-module • Go to downloaded dir (HTTP-Tiny-0.024) • perlMakefile.PL PREFIX=~/perl-module • make • make test • make install • check perl-module for installed files !

  13. How do you use it • setenv PERL5LIB ~/perl-module/share/perl5/ • Now you can run the program • To make your life easy I have already built the modules that you can use • Its in /genome/perl-lib/share/perl5/ SO: • set PERL5LIB /genome/perl-lib/share/perl5/ Now you can run the sample perl scripts from ensembl rest services !

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