API API Documentation and Design 3

Question 1

What is pagination in REST API design used for?

Accepted Answer

Dividing large result sets into smaller, manageable pages

Answer

Pagination splits large collections into pages, reducing response size, improving performance, and preventing overloading clients and servers.

Question 2

What is 'cursor-based pagination' in APIs?

Accepted Answer

Using an opaque pointer to the next result set instead of page numbers

Answer

Cursor-based pagination uses an opaque cursor pointing to a position in the result set, ensuring consistent paging even when data changes.

Question 3

What does the 'Accept-Version' header allow in API requests?

Accepted Answer

Requesting a specific API version via headers

Answer

The Accept-Version (or similar custom) header enables clients to request a specific API version without modifying the URL.

Question 4

What is hypermedia in the context of REST API responses?

Accepted Answer

Links embedded in responses that guide clients to related resources and actions

Answer

Hypermedia in REST responses means including links (URLs) to related resources and allowed actions, enabling self-documenting, navigable APIs.

Question 5

What is the purpose of an API rate limit response header like X-RateLimit-Remaining?

Accepted Answer

To inform clients how many requests they have left in the current window

Answer

X-RateLimit-Remaining tells clients how many requests remain before hitting the rate limit, enabling them to throttle themselves proactively.

API - Testing Practice Test