GET for reading resources in Rest API - Mini Project: Build & Apply

GET for reading resources

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple REST API server that allows users to read information about books in a library.Users will send GET requests to your API to get details about books.

🎯 Goal: Create a REST API endpoint that handles GET requests to read book information from a predefined list of books.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of books with exact titles and authors

Add a variable to hold the API endpoint path

Write code to handle GET requests and return the correct book data

Print the response data to show the result of the GET request

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

APIs often provide data to users or other programs using GET requests to read resources like books, products, or users.

💼 Career

Understanding how to handle GET requests and return data is a fundamental skill for backend developers and API designers.

1

DATA SETUP: Create a list of books

Create a list called books with these exact dictionaries:
{'id': 1, 'title': '1984', 'author': 'George Orwell'},
{'id': 2, 'title': 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'author': 'Harper Lee'},
and {'id': 3, 'title': 'The Great Gatsby', 'author': 'F. Scott Fitzgerald'}.

Rest API

# Create the list called books with the exact dictionaries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Remember to create a list named books with three dictionaries exactly as shown.

2

CONFIGURATION: Define the API endpoint path

Create a variable called endpoint and set it to the string "/books".

Rest API

books = [
    {'id': 1, 'title': '1984', 'author': 'George Orwell'},
    {'id': 2, 'title': 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'author': 'Harper Lee'},
    {'id': 3, 'title': 'The Great Gatsby', 'author': 'F. Scott Fitzgerald'}
]
# Create the variable endpoint with the string "/books"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Set endpoint exactly to the string "/books".

3

CORE LOGIC: Handle GET request to return books

Write a function called get_books that takes no parameters and returns the books list.

Rest API

books = [
    {'id': 1, 'title': '1984', 'author': 'George Orwell'},
    {'id': 2, 'title': 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'author': 'Harper Lee'},
    {'id': 3, 'title': 'The Great Gatsby', 'author': 'F. Scott Fitzgerald'}
]
endpoint = "/books"
# Define the function get_books that returns books
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Define a function named get_books that returns the books list.

4

OUTPUT: Print the result of the GET request

Call the function get_books() and print its result.

Rest API

books = [
    {'id': 1, 'title': '1984', 'author': 'George Orwell'},
    {'id': 2, 'title': 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'author': 'Harper Lee'},
    {'id': 3, 'title': 'The Great Gatsby', 'author': 'F. Scott Fitzgerald'}
]
endpoint = "/books"

def get_books():
    return books

# Call get_books and print the result
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(get_books()) to show the list of books.