May 2018 Summaries

The three main formats used to represent a GraphQL schema are the GraphQL Schema Definition Language (SDL), the GraphQL introspection query result, and the GraphQL.js `GraphQLSchema` object. These formats can be converted into each other, allowing developers to work with GraphQL schemas in different contexts. The SDL is a human-readable notation used for writing down GraphQL schema definitions, while the introspection query result is a JSON representation of the schema extracted from the GraphQL API. The `GraphQLSchema` object is an intermediate representation used by the JavaScript reference implementation of GraphQL. Developers can use these formats to work with GraphQL schemas programmatically and convert between them as needed. Additionally, GraphQL.js provides utilities for working with GraphQL schemas, such as the `buildSchema` function for converting SDL to a schema object, and the `printSchema` function for converting a schema object to an SDL string.

The text discusses the importance of authorization in GraphQL APIs, which is often misunderstood as being unrelated to authentication. The article explains that authentication determines whether a user is logged in or not, while authorization decides what permissions they have. It provides an example of how to set up authorization for a schema using Apollo Server 2.0, which includes generating a context object with the user's information and implementing basic whole-schema authorization. The text also covers authorization in resolvers, data models, and outside of GraphQL, providing practical tips for securing fields in a GraphQL API.

Apollo is a company that's hiring for various positions, including full stack and backend infrastructure developers. The company is growing its engineering team with a focus on building the Apollo platform, which includes tools such as Apollo Client, Apollo Server, and Apollo Engine. These tools are used to help developers build, query, and analyze data in graph form. Apollo is also known for its work in open source JavaScript tooling and has built a distributed cloud system that processes massive amounts of performance metrics data from GraphQL servers and schemas. The company's roots started in open source tech with the Meteor JavaScript framework, and it emphasizes building tools that make application development easier, more powerful, and more enjoyable. Apollo is also driving GraphQL adoption forward across the stack and is hosting the third annual GraphQL Summit in San Francisco. The company has a flexible and remote-first work culture and offers competitive salaries to attract top talent.

The Apollo Server 2.0 beta has been released, aiming to lower the barrier to entry for getting started with GraphQL while providing features teams need to run their server in production with confidence. The new version simplifies the setup process and provides a faster path to adoption by answering common questions such as which language to use, server framework, and schema building. Apollo Server 2.0 sets up an Express server, hosts GraphQL Playground, and offers integrations for popular server frameworks, including serverless variants. It introduces features like built-in support for GraphQL subscriptions, powerful error handling tools, schema stitching, and schema directives, as well as opt-in Apollo Engine integration for performance monitoring, caching, and schema analytics. The new version is designed to empower developers to take advantage of GraphQL's benefits and provide a brighter future for building scalable and performant GraphQL applications.