Building a GraphQL Server Part 1 What Is GraphQL

What is GraphQL used for? GraphQL is a query language (that's what the “QL” stands for) for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. Basically, it is used to load data from a server to a client -- it's a way to get data from an API into your application What exactly is GraphQL? GraphQL is a query language for your API, and a server-side runtime for executing queries by using a type system you define for your data. ... GraphQL isn't tied to any specific database or storage engine and is instead backed by your existing code and data. Is GraphQL faster than rest? GraphQL is faster than REST because as you can pick the fields you want to query, so the request will always be the smallest possible Is GraphQL JSON? GraphQL services typically respond using JSON, however the GraphQL spec does not require it. ... JSON is also very familiar to client and API developers, and is easy to read and debug. In fact, the GraphQL syntax is partly inspired by the JSON syntax. Is GraphQL worth using? GraphQL is great, it allows you to work in a declarative style by enabling you to select only the information or operations that you need. However, just like any other tool, it's not a silver bullet. ... It's easier to use a web cache with REST than with GraphQL. You could have performance issues with GraphQL queries. Does GraphQL replace SQL? GraphQL is an alternative to REST, not SQL. GraphQL is not SQL! Instead, GraphQL is data-agonistic, and GraphQL, being one of the possible and most popular way, uses SQL to fetch data. Is GraphQL stateless? GraphQL is often referred to as more efficient than REST because it allows clients to ask for multiple resources in one request, which saves round trips, and also allows clients to filter down to only the fields they actually need. ... And yes, it's stateless just like REST