Build API applications using Python

This workshop teaches you how to build an API application with Python using the popular FastAPI framework. You’ll learn to read and understand an OpenAPI specification and to implement the API server according to the API specification. Along the way, you’ll learn about hexagonal architecture and useful service implementation patterns.

You’ll also learn to set up a database with Alembic and implement database models using SQLAlchemy.

You’ll also learn to test the API using the robust API testing automation framework schemathesis. Finally, you’ll also learn to deploy the API to Heroku.

I'm donating 50% of the proceeds from the workshop to support Ukraine.

Use the code python-apis to get a 50% discount, valid until the 11th of April.

Target audience

This workshop will be useful for

• Python developers who want to learn or improve their knowledge about building API applications.
• Backend developers who want to learn to build APIs with Python.
• Q&A engineers who want to understand how an API is built and how to test it using API testing automation tools.
• Full stack developers who work both with the frontend and the backend and want to understand better how an API server is built, and how to ensure their frontend applications will integrate with the backend.
• Tech Leads, Engineering Managers, VPs of Engineering, and CTOs who want to know which technologies are currently available and how to best use them to build robust APIs with Python.

Why you should send your team to this workshop

If you’re an Engineering Manager, a Tech Lead, or a CTO and you work or are planning to work with APIs, I recommend you encourage your team to attend this workshop. I’ve spent the last ten years working with APIs and microservices. I’ve worked with dozens of teams building both internal and external APIs. In my experience, most developers have a good notion of what an API is and how it should work. However, things fall through when it comes to specific implementation details and the workflow of how to effectively build an API. Everybody can build an API, but building a robust, scalable, and maintainable API requires certain patterns and workflows. This workshop teaches you and your team those patterns and workflows.

Some of the most common questions when working with APIs are how do backend and frontend developers agree on what the API will look like and how it’ll work? How do you document an API? How do you read an API specification? How do you implement an API according to the specification and how do you ensure that the implementation is correct? How do you decouple your service layer from your API layer? How do you decouple your data layer from your API layer?

In this workshop, we’ll address those questions and more. The goal is to learn how to build an API following best practices and patterns, how to test it effectively, and how to deploy it. We’ll work on simple examples at every step of the process while ensuring that we create a solid ground for building great APIs in the future.

What you will learn

• How to read an OpenAPI specification
• How to build an API using FastAPI
• What is hexagonal architecture and how you use it to structure an application
• How to design database models with SQLAlchemy and how to manage migrations with Alembic
• How to use data transfer objects to translate data between the layers of your application
• How to validate your API implementation using schemathesis
• How to deploy your API to Heroku

Agenda

(UK timezone)

• 09:30 - Introductions, welcome to the workshop, and agenda for the day
• 10:00 - Introduction to the Job Portal API
• 10:15 - Setting up the environment, installing dependencies; introduction to hexagonal architecture; structuring the project
• 10:45 - Break
• 11:00 - Implementing the API layer
• 12:00 - Q&A
• 12:15 - Lunch
• 13:30 - Implementing the database models
• 14:30 - Q&A
• 14:45 - Break
• 15:30 - Implementing the service layer
• 16:30 - Q&A
• 16:45 - Break
• 17:00 - Testing the API with schemathesis
• 17:30 - Deploying to Heroku
• 18:00 - Q&A

About the workshop

Language: English

Where: Online, via Zoom

About José

I'm an independent consultant, author, instructor, and speaker based in London. I'm also the author of Microservice APIs (Manning, 2022) and the founder of microapis.io.

Over the past years, I've worked with businesses from all over the world to help them architect microservices platforms, deliver API integrations, and improve the quality of their software.

I also organise workshops in which I teach how to design and build microservice APIs, how to add authentication and authorization, how to secure them, and how to deploy and operate them at scale.