In Python REST APIs, how do I gracefully handle failures?

In Python REST APIs, handling failures gracefully is essential for providing a good user experience and maintaining application stability. This involves implementing proper error handling mechanisms, returning appropriate HTTP status codes and messages, and logging errors for debugging purposes.

Example of Handling Failures in Python REST API

from flask import Flask, jsonify, request app = Flask(__name__) @app.route('/api/resource', methods=['GET']) def get_resource(): try: # Simulating a potential error (e.g., resource not found) resource = fetch_resource_from_database() if resource is None: return jsonify({'error': 'Resource not found'}), 404 return jsonify(resource), 200 except Exception as e: # Log the error app.logger.error(f'An error occurred: {e}') return jsonify({'error': 'Internal Server Error'}), 500 def fetch_resource_from_database(): # Simulated function to fetch a resource return None # Simulating resource not found for this example if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(debug=True)

Python REST APIs error handling HTTP status codes Flask error handling