Inquiry about some stuff

[Tyller_]

@jeffreyrb03-gmail on a scale of 1-10, how much experience do you have with using node js for api interactions, I am thinking about doing something very overly complicated to make message storage easier for my chatrooms project. I can do this programming myself but if you have the knowledge to help me make some scripting I’d welcome all the help (I have already used the api I need to use and made several projects so I can do it if you don’t want to help)

[011830-0a42ef84]

@tyller_
js means javascript I think… what does api mean?

[Tyller_]

@011830-0a42ef84 I’m just wondering if jeff would like to help me with a project I am dedicated to expanding in an overly complicated way, api is how you interact with special services, like discord bots use the discord bot api

[jeffreyrb03-gmail]

@tyller_ around 7.5 to be honest. I don’t consider myself great at NodeJS, since there is an immense amount of stuff to memorize and I used to use it SOOO much in early 2023 however I took a forced break and have just recently come back to it in like September of this year. However I can do things since I usually read a TON of documentation and google things when I need help.

I can help you with (almost) whatever you need concerning NodeJS and APIs however I can’t always code nodejs so it might take me a little bit to fullfill your request. To elaborate I don’t own a laptop anymore but I have a school chromebook which unfortunately blocks Glitch and Github, but during my study hall periods in school I always go to the media center and they have PCs there that we can freely use. The blockers are super relaxed on them so I usually code YN3D’s nodejs backend and listen to music. I do creaticode on my school chromebook since its luckily always unblocked. The media centers are closed for like a week tho bc some kid died and theyre doing therapy sessions, so yeah my time to code (non-creaticode) is not as much as it used to be.

Basically I will probably take long to help you if it means coding like making an API on GitHub or Glitch.com since those are blocked on my school chromebooks and the blockers are absolutely hell, since they use AI to scan a page on the spot and then either allow it or block it, so almost anything not educational like games or too indepth hacking/programming related will get blocked. If scripts is all you need then I can do that

[jeffreyrb03-gmail]

@tyller_ I will have to use Glitch tho if you require database features (not the Database blocks) because Glitch offers free small but good enough databases for every nodeJS project. But yeah just tell me what you want me to make you. Also, since this is a sort of bigger help than usual, maybe we could make a trade before I commit? This might cut into my already limited time that I have to develop YN3D unless it’s something small but its ok.

[jeffreyrb03-gmail]

@011830-0a42ef84 API means application programming interface (i didnt have to google that lol, got it memorized). Basically what all that nonsense which even I don’t understand means is a somewhat special URL or “endpoint” that can be accessed to provide information of any kind, mainly text and sometimes images, to you or an app. For example, go to here:
https://uselessfacts.jsph.pl/api/v2/facts/random
This API just gives you a random fun fact as some small JSON data.

Apps and websites use these more often because APIs return code or plaintext data which is usually unappealing to human eyes, and then they use that data to do what they need and/or transform/display that data too, like how a weather app uses a weather API to style and display weather data with icons and colors and the background and whatnot.

Hope this explanation helps!

Now in terms of CreatiCode, APIs are useful because the blocks and platform are a bit limited in what they can do. I mean CreatiCode is very allowing and much better than original Scratch, but there’s always something that there isn’t a block for and since there is a cloud fetch URL block technically anything is possible. For example, I realized there isn’t a math block for cube root, only just square root. I was planning to make an API for that but I’ve been busy. Then, with the API, that allows for cube roots and makes it possible. This might not be a great example since there’s actually better ways to accomplish getting cube roots (like writing a math formula to a google sheet and then reading it again to see the result of that formula) but it’s great if you absolutely need something that currently CreatiCode is not capable of.