API Testing, Often Overlooked, Critical to Your Success

This session will outline the different types of Application Programming Interface (API) in use today (GraphQL, REST, SOAP, RSS) as well as brief historical perspective on legacy API technologies (ActiveX, CORBA, MSMQ). It will explain why it is important to make sure you have a sound API testing strategy, and how it relates to the critical operation of today’s connected businesses.

The session will cover API design patterns such as endpoint versioning, self-describing data formats, authentication, authorization, and mocking. The session will provide practical techniques for how to ensure you have sufficient test coverage of your API endpoints, how to leverage realistic test data, and how to integrate API tests into your DevOps tool-chain and overall test reporting environment.

The audience will learn how to use a variety of different tools and frameworks to simplify API testing, with practical samples testing real applications, plus some horror stories from when ‘good APIs’ turn bad.

Session Takeaways:

1. Why API testing should not be taken for granted, and what you can do about it.
2. Overall strategies and best practices for a sound API test plan.
3. What types of API you are likely to encounter and tips for testing each of them.
4. Things you can tell your developers to do, to avoid an API living hell.