What is the difference between API property and attribute?
What is the difference between API property and attribute?
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28-Dec-2023
Updated on 23-Jan-2025
Khushi Singh
23-Jan-2025An API property is a characteristic of a class or object which relates to an API. It is a means for storing, getting and modifying information about that object. Properties refer to the qualities or features of a resource. For instance, while defining properties in an API which deals with product information, properties would be product name, price or product identification number among others. These properties constitute the framework of the data interchange in the process as a data payload that concerns the state of the resource in a request or response. Properties are in the main employed as data repositories; a concept that is central to data modeling within APIs.
On the other hand, an API attribute is information about an object or an annotation or instruction placed on a code item, which is usually a class, method or property providing information or instructions on how to interact with this element. But we should remember that attributes are not actually data, but they give extra information or perform some further action. For instance, in the case of a Web API, attributes may be used to restrict to whom the content can be made available, setting up routes or putting in place validation rules. More or less, attributes are basically prescriptions as to how the framework or runtime should deal with the tied code element.
Therefore, properties are values that belong to an object and describes an aspect of it, while attributes are instructions on how the code should behave or information in reference to the properties. The properties are mostly used in the modeling of the structure of a resource, on the other hand, the attributes are used to specify the functionality and behavior of an API. The two are very important in the growth and implementation of APIs, but have unique responsibilities from each other.