When developing web services and clients, it’s often very useful to have a flexible HTTP client tool, capable of submitting not just the basic GET and POST requests performed by browser, but the full suite of HTTP requests. Such tools allow us to exercise and debug web services while they’re still in development; perform simple tests on those services before custom clients are fully implemented or test rigs are in place; and explore and catalog web service endpoints and payloads that are not within our control, and may not be fully documented.

We’ll use Postman for this purpose; however, we recognize that developers’ preferences vary widely among these tools, just as they do for text editors and other fundamental utilities. So while the pre-work includes installation of Postman, and we will cover its use in class, students are free to use similarly capable alternatives in their projects.

Downloading and installing

1. Download the appropriate installer or program archive from the Postman Apps page.

2. Follow the installation instructions on Installation and updates for your platform.