API documentation example: what does it look like?

In my previous articles, I have explained what is API documentation and the important things required to create effective API documentation.  So I thought, why not learn API with an example; differentiate this example into a Technical writer guide, developer guide, and user guide.

I hope these articles are helping a few of you to learn and explore yourself as an API documentation specialist.

Let me start with our guide (technical writer):

Here I am going to take API structure as an example. When you start writing API documentation, first try to cover the overview section:

The overview section includes:

·        A summary of the API functionality.

·        Try to provide a link to the reference documentation for further operations.

·        Then get started with a section that will explain key information and steps involved in the API documentation.

 Developer guide:

A developer guide is nothing but reference documentation provided for each API HTTP call method.

 Typical documentation might include:

·        URI  endpoint (a subset of URL request)

·        Sample requests.

·        Use cases.

·        Request parameters.

·        Response parameters.

·        Error/issue handling information.

 User guide:

A user guide includes:

·        Information about how to connect to the API.

·        Helps to the walkthrough of API use cases.

·        New users can also learn how to use the API.