Programming APIs In IoT
PROGRAMMING APIS
The application programming interface, or API, is arguably what really ties together the connected “things” of the “Internet of Things.” IoT APIs are the points of interaction between an IoT device and the internet and/or other elements within the network.
Python
There has been a recent surge in the number of Python users, and it has now become one of the “go-to” languages in web development. Its use is slowly spreading to the embedded control and IoT world, especially with the Raspberry Pi processor. Python is an interpreted language, which is easy to read, quick to learn, and quick to write. Also, it’s a powerhouse for serving data-heavy applications.
Node.js
Devices like sensors, beacons, transmitters, and motors have a tendency to generate a large volume of data, thereby generating a large number of requests. Node.js is well-equipped to handle these requests through streams. Streams offer both readable and writable channels, which help in piping the request to the destination without temporarily storing the data. Streams are basically Unix pipes and can directly connect to the destination.
The key feature of any IoT-driven application is collecting data, communicating, analyzing, and acting. Node.js makes a perfect partner for all the above features.
Sockets and MQTT protocol are well-suited in Node.js, which are generally used for continuous data transmission in IoT applications.
IoT-application cable boards, such as Intel Edison, BeagleBone Black, and Raspberry Pi, can easily install Node.js as a programming environment. Node.js comes with the NPM package manager, which contains many useful IoT modules that can be used for rapid and robust application development.
Node.js is known for its speed, scalability, and efficiency, making it the key player for data-intensive real-time applications. This makes Node.js well-suited for IoT, which relies on data-intensive real-time traffic.
IoT devices’ commands are generally written in low-level languages like C and C++, which are difficult to learn. Node.js comes with the power of JavaScript, which is relatively easy to learn and understand.
The Node.js open-source community NPM (Node Package Manager) contains more than 80 packages for Arduino controllers, Raspberry Pi, and Intel IoT Edison. It contains more than 30 packages for different sensors and Bluetooth devices. These modules make application development fast and easy.
Getting started with Node.js and IoT
Node.js makes it possible to write applications in JavaScript on IoT devices. It’s built on the V8 JavaScript runtime and written in C++ – so it’s fast. Node.js makes use of various open-source modules (tools) to achieve faster development.
To make use of these tools (or modules) in Node.js, we need to install and manage them in a useful way. This is where NPM, the Node Package Manager, comes in. It installs the packages you want to use and provides a useful interface to work with them.
NPM contains many popular IoT modules suited to different types of application development. You can use npm modules for getting started with Node.js and IoT.
Key npm modules for IoT are listed below:
- Johnny-Five
- CylonJs
- NodeRed
- Noduino
- Nodebots
- Arduino
The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) is a cross-platform application (for Windows, macOS, Linux) written in Java. It is used to write and upload programs to Arduino compatible boards. The Arduino IDE supports the languages C and C++ using special rules of code structuring. The Arduino IDE supplies a software library from the Wiring project, which provides many common input and output procedures. User-written code only requires two basic functions, for starting the sketch and the main program loop, that are compiled and linked with a program stub main() into an executable cyclic executive program with the GNU toolchain, also included with the IDE distribution. The Arduino IDE employs the program avrdude to convert the executable code into a text file in hexadecimal encoding that is loaded into the Arduino board by a loader program in the board’s firmware.