Building APIs using Python and Flask

In this workshop we will build a RESTfull API which

returns list of most popular female and male names (method: GET, endpoint: /names)
returns meaning for each name (method: GET, endpoint: /names/michael)
adds a name to the list (method: POST, endpoint: /names, data about the name will be sent in the body of the message)
deletes a name from the list (method: DELETE, endpoint: /names/timothy)

We are using Python3 and Flask framework to build the API.

Setup

We will be using terminal on Mac/Linux computers or command prompt on Windows.

Clone or download the github repository into your home dir:

$ git clone https://github.com/elenaoat/codingmeetup.git
Open the repository with your editor (PyCharm, Sublime, Atom, etc.)
Optional: Create a virtual environment.

To isolate your global environment from the packages that we are about to install, we will create a virtual environment. So that later you can install same packages but of different version. It's a best practice to create a virtual environment for any new Python project.

Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate inside the folder where you downloaded/cloned the code. The folder must be called something like codingmeetup or codingmeetup-master. Then run:

$ python3 -m venv venv

Activate the environment by running:

source venv/bin/activate

You should see a venv word in your terminal before the path.
Install the libraries.

To install all the required dependencies (requests library, Flask) run:

$ pip install -r requirements.txt
Tell terminal where does your Flask application reside by running:

$ export FLASK_APP=app.py

On Windows in your command prompt run:

set FLASK_APP=app.py
Make Flask server reload data automatically on code changes:

$ export FLASK_ENV=development
Run Flask server: flask run
Now head over to http://127.0.0.1:5000/names

JSONPlaceholder - Fake Online REST API for Testing and Prototyping https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/