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Resource Design

Learn how to model your domain as RESTful resources.

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Resource Hierarchy

Resource Relationships

Order
├── customer (belongs to)
├── items (has many)
│   └── product (references)
├── payment (has one)
└── shipping (has one)

Flat vs Nested Resources

# Flat (preferred for most cases)
GET /orders
GET /orders/123
GET /order-items?orderId=123

# Nested (for strict ownership)
GET /users/456/orders
GET /users/456/orders/123

Resource Design Patterns

Pattern Example When to Use
Single resource /products/123 Fetch specific item
Collection /products List/filter items
Sub-resource /products/123/reviews Owned resources
Action /products/123/archive Non-CRUD operations
Search /products/search?q=phone Search endpoints

Handling Actions in REST

When an action doesn't map to CRUD:

# Option 1: Use a sub-resource
POST /orders/123/cancel

# Option 2: Use HTTP method + status
PATCH /orders/123
{ "status": "cancelled" }

# Option 3: Use action endpoint
POST /orders/123/actions/cancel

Resource Field Design

{
  "id": "123",
  "name": "Wireless Mouse",
  "price": 29.99,
  "currency": "USD",
  "createdAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "_links": {
    "self": "/products/123",
    "reviews": "/products/123/reviews"
  }
}

Include: IDs, core data, timestamps, links.
Exclude: Internal implementation details.

Design Patterns

Creational

  • Factory
  • Builder
  • Singleton
  • Prototype

Structural

  • Adapter
  • Decorator
  • Facade
  • Proxy

Behavioral

  • Observer
  • Strategy
  • Command
  • State

Best Patterns

  • Use appropriately
  • Don't over-engineer
  • Prefer composition
  • Follow SOLID principles

Key Points

  • Understanding Resource Design is essential for production systems
  • Always consider scalability and maintainability
  • Test thoroughly before deploying to production
  • Monitor performance and set up alerting

Common Patterns

  1. Validation: Always validate input at the boundary
  2. Error Handling: Use structured error responses
  3. Logging: Log key events for debugging
  4. Testing: Unit, integration, and load tests
  5. Documentation: Keep docs updated with code changes

Practice Problems

0/3solved
Implement Resource Design

Design and implement a solution for Resource Design in a backend system. Consider scalability, error handling, and production readiness.

Solution
// Resource Design implementation
// Key aspects: validation, error handling, logging, testing

public class ResourceDesign {
    // Production-ready implementation
}
Resource Design Edge Cases

Identify and handle edge cases for Resource Design. What happens under high load, with invalid input, or during failures?

Solution
// Edge case handling:
// 1. Null/empty input -> validation
// 2. High load -> rate limiting, queuing
// 3. Failures -> retries, circuit breaker
// 4. Concurrent access -> locks, idempotency
Resource Design Testing Strategy

Write a testing strategy for Resource Design. Include unit tests, integration tests, and performance tests.

Solution
// Test plan:
// - Unit: 80% coverage target
// - Integration: API contracts
// - Performance: latency, throughput
// - Chaos: failure injection

Quiz

1. When should you use nested resources?

Question 1 options

2. What should you exclude from API resource responses?

Question 2 options

3. What is the primary purpose of Resource Design?

Question 3 options

4. What is a common mistake when implementing Resource Design?

Question 4 options

Flashcards

Question

When to use nested resources?

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Answer

When there is a strict ownership relationship (e.g., /users/123/orders)

Question

What goes in a resource response?

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Answer

IDs, core data, timestamps, links — exclude internal details

Question

What is Resource Design?

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Answer

Resource Design is a key concept in backend development.

Question

When to use Resource Design?

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Answer

Use Resource Design when building production systems that require reliability, scalability, and maintainability.

Question

Resource Design best practices

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Answer

Follow SOLID principles, write clean code, test thoroughly, document decisions, and monitor in production.

Revision Notes

Key Takeaways

  • 1.Design resources as nouns with clear relationships
  • 2.Use nested resources for strict ownership only
  • 3.Flat resources are simpler and preferred
  • 4.Include IDs, data, timestamps, links — exclude internals

Interview Tips

  • •Explain when to use nested vs flat resources
  • •Know how to design resource field responses

Cheat Sheet

Resource Design

  • Flat: /orders, /products (simpler, preferred)
  • Nested: /users/123/orders (strict ownership)
  • Actions: POST /orders/123/cancel or PATCH with status
  • Fields: id, data, timestamps, _links (no internals)