PHP API Development: From Theory to RESTful Services

The book "PHP API Development" is a comprehensive practical guide that will take you through the entire process of creating modern web services using PHP. The author, experienced backend developer Alexey Smirnov, shares proven approaches and real-world cases from commercial development.

What is this book about?

The book covers all stages of API creation — from architecture design to deploying the finished product. You will learn how to build RESTful services, work with data formats (JSON, XML), implement authentication and authorization, as well as ensure security and performance. Special attention is given to popular frameworks — Laravel and Symfony, as well as writing clean, testable code.

Key topics:

• API Basics: REST principles, HTTP methods, status codes, versioning
• Design: endpoint architecture, error handling, documentation (Swagger/OpenAPI)
• Authentication: JWT, OAuth 2.0, API keys, session authentication
• Databases: Eloquent ORM, Doctrine, migrations, query optimization
• Security: protection against CSRF, XSS, SQL injection, rate limiting
• Testing: PHPUnit, Postman, load testing
• Deployment: Docker, CI/CD, monitoring and logging

Who is this book for?

• Beginner PHP developers who want to learn API creation
• Experienced programmers looking to systematize their knowledge of web services
• Fullstack developers who need a backend for frontend applications
• Team leads and architects designing microservice systems

What will you learn after reading?

• Design and implement a RESTful API from scratch
• Learn to handle requests, validate data, and return responses
• Master working with popular frameworks and ORMs
• Implement secure authentication and attack protection
• Write tests and set up automatic deployment
• Understand how to optimize performance and scale an API

The book contains many practical examples, ready-to-use code snippets, and step-by-step instructions. All examples are tested on current versions of PHP 8.x and are compatible with popular hosting providers and cloud platforms.

PHP API Development will become your reliable assistant in creating professional web services that can be integrated with mobile applications, SPA frontends, and other systems.