In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:

• RESTful API
• API design
• Django Rest framework
• API Patterns

So far, we have been designing Django applications to be consumed by humans. But many of our applications are also consumed by other applications, that is, machine to machine. A well-designed API makes it easier for programmers to write code that uses it.

In this chapter, we will be referring to Representational state transfer (REST) web APIs whenever we use the term APIs, as it is popularly implied. These APIs have become a popular means not just for accessing web application functionality, but also for mashing up and creating entirely new applications.