When I started this career 11 years ago, I had to manually test everything. Every time we made a change, we had to run a custom script or create a frontend to test the change on the backend. I spent more time making simple changes to the testing part than I did on the code itself.
I don’t want to spend hours testing something or writing manual scripts to do the testing. As developers, we want to build applications that are robust and scalable, and we want to have efficient tools at our disposal to make our work easier and more efficient.
So today I’m going to talk about why I think POSTMAN is part of the tool you should use.
- API request
Thanks to his clear interface, you can easily make API requests with various parameters, headers, and payloads. This significantly reduces the time and effort required to manually create requests using command-line tools such as Curl or custom scripts.
And for old guys like me who still want to run scripts and curls in the terminal from time to time, Postman lets you turn your requests into code snippets in several languages.
2. Test
Postman allows you to automate test scripts, ensure that your API is working as expected, and detect potential bugs and inconsistencies early in the development process. This helps provide more reliable and stable software.
3. Collaboration
Collaboration is key in modern software development. POSTMAN helps you share collections of API requests, scripts, and test suites with your team members. This keeps everyone on the same page, reduces misunderstandings, and promotes smoother teamwork.
4. Documentation
Clear and up-to-date documentation is essential for any API. POSTMAN can automatically generate documentation based on API requests and responses defined within the tool. This documentation is human- and machine-readable, making it easy for us and our team to understand and interact with the API.
5. Mock server
POSTMAN’s mock server feature has been a game changer for us. This allows you to simulate API responses without implementing a real backend. This is especially useful when working in teams, as front-end developers can start building interfaces that rely on the API even before the back-end is completely ready.
6. Environment
Managing different environments is a challenge that developers face every day, and accidentally using the wrong environment in a manual script can have serious consequences in some cases. POSTMAN simplifies this by allowing developers to easily create and switch between environments. This ensures that API requests are sent to the correct endpoint, headers are set appropriately, and variables are managed effectively.
7.CI/CD
POSTMAN’s functionality extends beyond the user interface. It provides command line tools and APIs that can be used to integrate POSTMAN into her CI/CD pipeline. This enables automated testing and deployment of APIs, leading to faster and more reliable software releases.
conclusion
By incorporating POSTMAN into your workflow, you can deliver a more reliable software product. Accepting POSTMAN is not just a choice. This is a strategy you can use to write high-quality, fast code without worrying about introducing unexpected bugs in your code.