What is Postman?
Postman is a software tool that helps you send and test requests to web APIs, which are the ways different programs talk to each other over the internet. It provides a friendly interface so you don’t have to write code just to see if an API works.
Let's break it down
- Software tool: a program you install on your computer (or use in a browser).
- Send and test requests: you can ask an API for data or tell it to do something, then see the answer.
- Web APIs: “Application Programming Interfaces” that let apps share information, like getting weather data or posting a comment.
- Friendly interface: a visual window with buttons and fields, not just lines of code.
Why does it matter?
Postman lets developers quickly check if an API is working correctly, which speeds up building apps, fixes bugs faster, and reduces the need for complex coding just to test connections.
Where is it used?
- A mobile app team checks the server’s login endpoint before writing the login screen.
- QA testers verify that a new e-commerce checkout API returns the right order details.
- Students learning web development experiment with public APIs (e.g., a jokes API) to see real data.
- Companies monitor third-party services (like payment gateways) to ensure they stay online.
Good things about it
- Easy to learn: drag-and-drop fields and clear response view.
- Supports many request types (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.).
- Lets you save collections of requests for reuse and sharing.
- Built-in testing scripts let you automate checks without extra tools.
- Works both as a desktop app and in a web browser.
Not-so-good things
- The free version has limits on collaboration features and advanced monitoring.
- Large response bodies can be slow to load in the UI.
- Complex scripting may still require JavaScript knowledge, which can be a hurdle for beginners.
- It’s primarily for testing; it doesn’t replace full-scale performance testing tools.