RESTful API Design Questions

Focuses on designing resource oriented web APIs following Representational State Transfer principles and proper use of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Core skills include resource modeling and endpoint naming, use of correct Hypertext Transfer Protocol methods and semantics, status code selection and error response structure, idempotency and stateless design, request and response formats such as JavaScript Object Notation, pagination, filtering and sorting strategies, versioning and backward compatibility, authentication and authorization patterns, rate limiting and abuse prevention, caching and performance considerations, API contract testing and documentation, common anti patterns, and designing APIs that balance client usability with backend implementation concerns.

MediumSystem Design

0 practiced

List responsibilities an API gateway should handle in a microservices architecture (authentication, rate limiting, routing, protocol translation, aggregation, observability). For each responsibility explain trade-offs and why you might centralize or push it down to services.

HardTechnical

0 practiced

Explain trade-offs of strongly-typed API contracts (OpenAPI with strict schemas) versus flexible JSON payloads. Describe how to manage schema evolution, generate SDKs from OpenAPI, and techniques to avoid breaking auto-generated clients when evolving the API.

HardTechnical

0 practiced

Design a secure file upload pipeline for user-submitted content including pre-signed URLs to object storage, server-side virus scanning, content-type validation, size limits, streaming virus scanning options, and access control for uploaded objects. Explain latency trade-offs and where checks should occur.

EasyTechnical

0 practiced

Define idempotency in the context of HTTP APIs and explain why it matters for client retries and reliability. Describe how PUT and DELETE are idempotent while POST is not by default, and outline a simple technique to make a POST create operation idempotent (including storage and expiry considerations).

MediumSystem Design

0 practiced

Design an API endpoint to support advanced search across a product catalog with filters, facets, sorts, and pagination. Discuss when to use an external search engine (Elasticsearch) vs database queries, how to model facets and aggregations, and strategies to keep search results consistent with primary data stores.

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