ARK Releases Technical Update — Introducing API V2

All-In-One Blockchain solution, ARK has begun the testing phase of their Core 2 update, starting with their new API v2 software. This follows on from their recent business development with the release of ARK Deployer.

February 13th, 2018, Lons-le-Saunier, France – ARK is known for its revolutionary blockchain platform which boasts a whole host of new and exciting technologies, their most notable being their SmartBridge functionality. The integration of SmartBridge functionality allowed ARK to bypass one of the most prominent issues surrounding different blockchains which was the isolation between each one.

SmartBridge technology allows the linking of different blockchains through the method of bridging, which creates simultaneous utilisation of multiple blockchain networks by simplifying the process of having to endlessly trade coins to gain access to rival networks. ARK’s most recent technical update focuses on keeping their new API v2 simple, clean and allow easy access for new developers to quickly jump in and extend it.

Happy with Hapi

The initial development of the API v2 started with Restify, as it is well established in the Node.JS world when it comes to API development. It soon however, became apparent that it did not fit the needs and goals ARK had for the new API.

This is where Hapi comes into play. Hapi offers a rich framework and plugin system that scales from the personal to the enterprise space, also allowing for ARK to implement every version of the API as a plugin which makes it possible to remove a whole API version by simply commenting it out. This is in line with ARK’s goal of making it as easy as possible to work with the ARK Core v2.

Making Improvements

A major issue with the API v1 was that it did not follow any standards and was not RESTful in any way. The API v2 will be fully RESTful and follow the JSON API specifications as closely as possible. What this means is that all API endpoints that serve resources like blocks and transactions will act like collections. So instead of calling `/api/blocks/get?id=` you will call `/api/blocks/{id}` where `/api/blocks` is the collection of  the record you request via `{id}` will be grabbed from.

This change will allow users to understand how the API endpoints work and are structured without having to continually check the API docs because the structure is standardized.

Full Throttling

An issue with APIs which allow public access is that they can be abused to perform attacks on servers by flooding them with requests, causing too many queries and killing the database. A small change to help prevent this is the introduction of request throttling. Throttling is not a replacement for a DDoS mitigation as it only affects the API from being flooded. The users will have the ability to check the request throttling is working by performing a request to any API endpoint and checking the response headers.

Caching

As previously mentioned, ARK will implement request throttling to prevent flooding of the API. Caching of API calls will additionally reduce the load on the database as most data in the blockchain is immutable. ARK leverage Catbox to provide a wide variety of drivers for popular caching solutions like Redis, Memcached or Riak. The goal of caching is never having to generate the same response twice, the benefit of doing this is that ARK will gain speed and reduce server load on the ARK Core v2.

The ARK Crew is famous for their continual commitment to strive ever forward as the pioneers of innovative and groundbreaking blockchain technologies. Their new API v2 will boast many new features including better data handling and providing throttling and caching right out of the box. By following the latest trends and established best practices the ARK crew will be ready to build upon their foundation with peace of mind for future releases.

Taken From:

https://blog.ark.io/ark-deployer-first-steps-towards-easy-blockchain-deployment-8ee53dd39952

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Media Contact
Contact Name: Travis Walker
Contact Email: PR@ark.io

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