Part II · The Client

This begins the practical coding part of the book. 🤓🎉

• Client-side:
  • Chapter 5: Client Dev
  • Web:
    • Chapter 6: React
    • Chapter 7: Vue
  • Mobile:
    • Chapter 8: React Native
    • Chapter 9: iOS
    • Chapter 10: Android
• Server-side:
  • Chapter 11: Server Dev

Chapter 5: Client Dev

Chapter 5 contents:

• Anywhere: HTTP
  • cURL
  • JavaScript
• Client libraries
  • Streamlined request function
  • View layer integration
  • Caching
  • Typing
  • DevTools

GraphQL can be used between any two computers, such as from a web browser to a server or between two servers. Any computer with a network connection can send a GraphQL request, and any computer with an IP address on that network can receive that request and send back a response. Most software written these days follows the client–server model, in which one computer is always providing a service (a server), and another computer is always requesting the service (a client, such as a web browser or mobile app). In a GraphQL client–server model, the client makes GraphQL requests, and the server provides the service of responding to those requests. We’ll code GraphQL clients in the next few chapters and a GraphQL server in the last.

First we’ll make simple HTTP requests, which we can do from any computer. Most application clients are web browsers or mobile apps, so after HTTP, we’ll use the best web and mobile GraphQL libraries to create full-featured clients. The two web view layers we’ll be covering are React and Vue, and we’ll use their most popular GraphQL libraries, which are @apollo/client and vue-apollo. The best mobile libraries are Apollo iOS, Apollo-Android, and @apollo/client for React Native.

For each type of client and the server, we’ll go through building an app for reading this book 😄.