Creating Web APIs with Python and Flask

Abstraction: Tutorial building a REST-style web API with Python Flask and SQLite

Key points:

• Introduces HTTP concepts (GET/POST), query parameters, and JSON as the core vocabulary for web APIs
• Step-by-step Flask app construction: routing with @app.route, returning jsonify responses, and error handling with @app.errorhandler(404)
• Final version connects to an SQLite database (67 Hugo Award novels, 1953–2014) supporting multi-field filtering by id, author, and published year
• API design principles covered: plural noun resource paths, versioning (e.g. /v1/resources/books), avoiding verbs in URLs, and documentation importance
• When to use an API vs. a data dump: prefer API when data is large, frequently updated, or users need partial/real-time access
• Lesson produced by Patrick Smyth for Programming Historian (2018)

Connections: Flask · Python · Web API · Rest API · API Design

Source: https://programminghistorian.org/en/lessons/creating-apis-with-python-and-flask