Django for APIs: Build web APIs with Python & Django

by William S. Vincent

Learn how to build web APIs with Python and Django 3.0. Take a modern API-first approach to creating 3 different Django a Library API, Todo API, and a Blog API with user authentication, permissions, proper documentation, and more. You'll even learn how to connect them to a React front-end for a truly full-stack web application. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Genres: Programming, Technical, Technology, Nonfiction, Computer Science, Coding

190 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2018

Reviews

[Belhor Crowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK. Here's what I came to realize after reading all of Mr. Vincent's books: stop reading these and just go read documentations. These types of books are mostly a waste of time.

[Klaus · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for some practical resource to start writing APIs with Python (and Django), and you don't have any prior experience doing so, that's the right book for you!

If you already have some experience with it, maybe you should reconsider. The price is not that good, and although there are some "hidden gems" (like the Permissions and Documentation chapters) it's not that hard to find on documentations spread throughout the web.

Still, a good option for beginners.

[Syrgak · Rating 1 out of 5]

Brief run through Django Rest Framework without deeper explanation. It will be ok for people who want to know how APIs in Python generally look like, but not for those who had chosen it as a tutorial book to understand the details and mechanisms of DRF.

[Redowan Delowar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this book immediately after going through the Django for Beginners book by the same author.

Making REST API using Django is an inherently awkward process and Django Rest Framework tries to make this hairy process a little better. However, if you're building dedicated REST API based microservices, I suggest you look elsewhere. You'll be much better off using something like Flask or FastAPI to achieve that. However, if you want to expose your Django model or a part of it as a JSON API, then DRF is the way to go.

The author walks you through a traditional Django project and explains elaborately how you can expose a Django app as a RESTful API via the Django Rest Framework. Each chapter is built upon the previous one and they are nicely threaded together. Reading the Django for Beginner book helps to grasp the concepts better but if you know your way around the Django ecosystem, you can easily skip that one. Overall, another fantastic read from Will Vincent.

[Philippe Fanaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty basic and it serves you well if you need an introduction. To charge $36 ($39 for the Kindle version is absurd, more expensive than paperback???) is beyond anything reasonable. He's lucky there aren't many other options out there. At first, I gave this book 3 stars, but I intended on giving it 3.5; I'm gonna be a little bit condescendent and round it to 4 because this is a good quickstart guide; but, boy, do I hate that you can't have smaller than one-star precision on these websites: I can guarantee you the power dynamics of these reviews would shift considerably if they allowed for that.

Here is what pisses me off about this book:

- Although he does cover a lot of API essential features, he dives very superficially on endpoints and basically doesn't show any Django fundamentals for how the infinite myriad of obscure inheritances occur.
- At the beginning of the book, instead of giving the reader a quickstart guide on Django, he simply dispatches us to his other book on pure Django, an overt way of self-marketing. Very annoying. I was lucky that I did have some raw Django basics already.
- In the realpython website there are some very nice tutorials with a lot of improvements and better practices, why do we have to stick to the most basic implementations in the book? Wasn't this supposed to be THE book for Django APIs?
- Where is the API design patterns and best practices chapter? Seriously, having to look for that on Google and Youtube felt absolutely underwhelming.

In the end, I'm gonna have to be at the mercy of websites like StackOverflow and the most dry and lifeless documentation that is Django REST Framework's. I'll probably end up also buying some other book like Practical Django 2 or Channels 2: Building Projects and Applications with Real-Time Capabilities, by Federico Marani; or Django RESTful Web Services: The easiest way to build Python RESTful APIs and web services with Django, by Gaston C. Hillar; which will make my budget (and experience) for my API project kind of very disappointing.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Version 4.0)

Good book explaining what APIs are and how to build them using Django Rest Framework. Some overlap with Django for Beginners, but the new material pertaining to APIs is solid. One criticism I have of this book (and its predecessor) is that there are no exercises. As a result, it's easy to follow along with Will's examples without the material really sinking in. In that regard, it is a good reference text but is lacking compared to other technical materials (e.g. Automate the Boring Stuff, Python Crash Course, etc.) that challenge the reader beyond the examples provided by the author. However, this book was worthwhile enough that I will probably read the follow-up text Django for Professionals, because Will explains things in a simple, straightforward manner and I would like to see his content pertaining to Docker.

Cheers

[Peter Augustinak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I consider this one the best from the series. It is quite concise and only after I finished it and started implement REST API into my personal Django project, I realized how is this book just scratching the surface :)

Anyway it was really good reading, actually I was so interested (after reading and building all the stuff from Django for Beginners and Django for Professionals) about how to implement API with Django, that I was reading this one like some detective novel - I cannot wait what is on the next page!

This book 100% gives you the working solution how to use rest-framework app and how to implement API using Django. But be ready to do some extra work.

Anyway, very recommended.

[Maximilian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive and complete Beginners guide. I have a little experience with Django and almost none with API design and for me the book was perfect. It was engaging by not diving too deep into it but I can see how this can be a nono for someone more advanced.
Also, none of the information in the book is groundbreaking or new, it's all available in official documentation so the price tag is a bit steep. However, for someone that wants a quickstart into the subject and has the money to spare, I can recommend it.

[Jeff Roche]

A very good introduction to APIs and Django Rest framework.

[Og Maciel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, easy to read and follow examples, and packing a mighty punch! Go from zero to fully comfortable building RESTful APIs for your Django-based projects with this book!

[Vo Tat Dat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good Django REST API book for beginner.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but shallow introduction to the REST framework

[Nurlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

easy to read and very userfull for beginners; but if you want more, you should go and read official documantation.

[Rajdeep Mondal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a newbie with DRF, I learnt a lot of new things about it.

[Bilal Hikari · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an okay read, the book have some good tips and advice with interesting use cases

[Kazi Shoaib · Rating 2 out of 5]

DRF Token Authentication is briefly discussed, but there is nothing on how to use the generated tokens from frontend.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing that I couldn't have learned from a Youtube video

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction to APIs, but as a beginner I found some troubles with the recommended packages since they are no longer maintained and generate errors, however still it's a good starting point