Safe methods vs unsafe methods in Rest API - Hands-On Comparison

Safe methods vs unsafe methods in REST API

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple REST API server that handles user data. Some HTTP methods are safe and do not change data, while others are unsafe and modify data.Understanding which methods are safe helps keep data secure and predictable.

🎯 Goal: Create a small program that stores user names and supports safe and unsafe HTTP methods. You will mark which methods are safe and which are unsafe.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a dictionary called users with three users and their ages

Create a list called safe_methods containing the HTTP methods that do not change data

Create a list called unsafe_methods containing the HTTP methods that change data

Print the lists of safe and unsafe methods

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Understanding safe and unsafe HTTP methods helps developers build APIs that protect data and behave predictably.

💼 Career

Many jobs in web development and backend programming require knowledge of REST API methods and their safety.

1

Create the initial user data

Create a dictionary called users with these exact entries: 'alice': 30, 'bob': 25, 'carol': 27

Rest API

# Create the users dictionary with exact entries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use curly braces to create a dictionary with keys and values.

2

Define safe HTTP methods

Create a list called safe_methods containing these exact strings: 'GET', 'HEAD', 'OPTIONS'

Rest API

users = {'alice': 30, 'bob': 25, 'carol': 27}
# Create the safe_methods list with exact HTTP methods
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets to create a list of strings.

3

Define unsafe HTTP methods

Create a list called unsafe_methods containing these exact strings: 'POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE', 'PATCH'

Rest API

users = {'alice': 30, 'bob': 25, 'carol': 27}
safe_methods = ['GET', 'HEAD', 'OPTIONS']
# Create the unsafe_methods list with exact HTTP methods
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Remember to use square brackets and quotes for list of strings.

4

Print the safe and unsafe methods

Write two print statements: one to print safe_methods and one to print unsafe_methods

Rest API

users = {'alice': 30, 'bob': 25, 'carol': 27}
safe_methods = ['GET', 'HEAD', 'OPTIONS']
unsafe_methods = ['POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE', 'PATCH']
# Print the safe_methods list
# Print the unsafe_methods list
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print() to show the lists on the screen.