GraphQL Notw

gistfile1.md

Why does GraphQL exist?

• Difficult to scale REST-ful conventions out to nested sets of data.
• When dealing with normalized data, retrieving state likely ends up requiring multiple HTTP requests.
• Usuallys returns all data associated with a particular model, even if the consumer doesn't need this data.

Tradeoffs with REST

• Follow RESTful conventions strictly, issue multiple HTTP requests, and force the consumer to compose the data together
• Develop more sophisticated backend routes that nest using RESTful conventions, simplifying the API for the consumer but increasing backend complexity
• Abandon RESTful conventions and create a custom routes that feeds the precise need by a particular application use case

Overserving by default

Also, usually a route will return all of the data associated with a particular model, even if the consumer doesn't need this data, which increases network payload.

GraphQL wants to simplify RESTful routing and reduce oversharing

Graph models our data using a Graph Data Structure of

• Nodes
• Relations (called edges)

GraphQL Query

What are the names of the companies where users connected to user 23 work?

query {
  user(id: '23') {
    users {
      company {
        name
      }
    }
  }
}

+++++++++++++++++++++++     +++++++++++++++++++++++     +++++++++++++++++++++++   
+ GraphiQL front-end  +  => + GraphQL Server      +  => + Mock Discovery Src  +
+++++++++++++++++++++++     +++++++++++++++++++++++     +++++++++++++++++++++++