APIs and SDKs in Cloud Services Questions and Answers for Viva

Answer-1: An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of protocols and tools that allow different software applications to communicate with each other in cloud environments.

Answer-2: An SDK (Software Development Kit) is a collection of software tools, libraries, documentation, and code samples that help developers build applications using cloud services.

Answer-3: APIs enable integration, automation, and extensibility by allowing different cloud services and applications to communicate and interact seamlessly.

Answer-4: REST (Representational State Transfer) API is an architectural style for designing networked applications using HTTP requests to access and manipulate resources.

Answer-5: REST APIs use standard HTTP methods and are lightweight and stateless, while SOAP APIs are protocol-based, heavier, and support more complex operations.

Answer-6: REST APIs, SOAP APIs, GraphQL APIs, and gRPC are commonly used in cloud services.

Answer-7: SDKs simplify the integration of cloud services by providing pre-built functions, code samples, and documentation for developers.

Answer-8: AWS SDK, Azure SDK, Google Cloud SDK, IBM Cloud SDK, and Oracle Cloud SDK.

Answer-9: API versioning allows providers to release new API versions without breaking existing client integrations by managing backward compatibility.

Answer-10: API throttling limits the number of API requests a client can make within a specific time to prevent abuse and ensure service availability.

Answer-11: Through authentication (API keys, OAuth), authorization, encryption (TLS), and rate limiting.

Answer-12: OAuth is an open-standard authorization protocol that allows third-party apps to access user data without exposing credentials.

Answer-13: An API Gateway acts as a single entry point for APIs, handling request routing, security, rate limiting, and monitoring.

Answer-14: SDKs often provide built-in methods for handling authentication tokens and managing secure connections.

Answer-15: Public APIs are open to external developers, private APIs are used internally, and partner APIs are shared with specific business partners.

Answer-16: They provide detailed API references, guides, examples, and interactive consoles (e.g., Swagger, Postman).

Answer-17: To verify the functionality, reliability, performance, and security of APIs.

Answer-18: By providing language-specific libraries and tools for languages like Java, Python, .NET, JavaScript, etc.

Answer-19: Idempotency ensures that multiple identical requests have the same effect as a single request, preventing duplicate operations.

Answer-20: Rate limiting controls the number of API requests to prevent overload and ensure fair resource usage.

Answer-21: Through webhook APIs that notify clients about specific events asynchronously.

Answer-22: Pagination breaks large API responses into smaller chunks to improve performance and usability.

Answer-23: They provide error codes, exceptions, and retry mechanisms to help developers handle failures gracefully.

Answer-24: API keys, OAuth 2.0, JWT tokens, and mutual TLS.

Answer-25: GraphQL is a query language that allows clients to request exactly the data they need, unlike REST which exposes fixed endpoints.

Answer-26: Using analytics dashboards, logging, and monitoring tools provided by the cloud platform.

Answer-27: Creating a simulated API that mimics real API responses for testing and development purposes.

Answer-28: By providing easy-to-use libraries, reducing boilerplate code, and offering built-in handling of complex operations.

Answer-29: It divides API responses into smaller parts to manage large datasets and reduce latency.

Answer-30: By maintaining older API versions and supporting deprecated endpoints for a transition period.

Answer-31: They are common data formats used for exchanging information between clients and APIs.

Answer-32: They provide detailed error messages, logs, and sometimes integrated debugging tools.

Answer-33: Coordinating multiple API calls to perform a complex business process.

Answer-34: Webhooks allow servers to push real-time notifications to clients about events, useful in payment processing, alerts, etc.

Answer-35: By providing local emulators and mock services to simulate cloud APIs.

Answer-36: Synchronous APIs block the client until the response is received; asynchronous APIs allow the client to continue without waiting.

Answer-37: By enforcing authentication, IP whitelisting, rate limiting, and request validation.

Answer-38: Regularly changing API keys to reduce the risk of compromised credentials.

Answer-39: They release updated versions with new features, bug fixes, and compatibility improvements.

Answer-40: Throttling limits request rates, while quota management controls overall usage limits.

Answer-41: By exposing endpoints in different geographic regions for latency optimization and redundancy.

Answer-42: To demonstrate usage patterns and help developers quickly implement features.

Answer-43: Through versioned URLs or headers to differentiate between API versions.

Answer-44: Integration involves using existing APIs; development involves creating new APIs.

Answer-45: By providing libraries compatible with various operating systems and devices.

Answer-46: Charging users for API usage through subscription plans, pay-per-use, or tiered pricing.

Answer-47: They enable programmatic control of cloud resources, facilitating automation workflows.

Answer-48: To ensure fair resource distribution and prevent abuse by any single tenant.

Answer-49: Using authentication, authorization, input validation, encryption, and regular security testing.

Answer-50: Increased adoption of GraphQL, serverless APIs, API-first development, and enhanced developer experience.