From the course: Learn API Programming by Building a Telegram Bot

What you should know - PHP Tutorial

From the course: Learn API Programming by Building a Telegram Bot

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What you should know

- [Instructor] Telegram's Bot API is fairly simple and straightforward as APIs go, but you still have to have certain skills to make it do what you want. They fall into two categories, system administration and programming. You can use any modern operating system including Mac and Windows, and I've even heard of someone running a Telegram Bot on an Android phone. We'll be using Ubuntu Linux, and I recommend you use Linux if you can. It's what most of the community uses, so most online help is written with it in mind. For the same reason and for more speed and flexibility, I'd also recommend using the command line interface rather than a graphic interface like control panel. You should be able to create files and directories, move them around, delete them, and set their permissions. Depending on how your bot is set up, you might need to manage your domain name services so that Telegram servers know where to send their responses. And as with any project that's exposed to the internet, you should have a good handle on security so the hidden workings of your bot aren't exposed to the world. For programming, you can use pretty much any modern language. Although Python and PHP are the most popular ones for Telegram Bots. All of our examples will be in PHP so you'll have an advantage if you want to reuse code from this course. But as long as you can translate them to the language of your choice, you're set. Whatever you choose, you'll need mastery of basics like logic, control flow, and includes within that programming language. Your bot will contact telegram servers through HTTPS using POST and GET. I'll show you a neat program to help, but the more you know, the better off you'll be. Telegram servers send their responses in JSON encoded objects and you'll find yourself traversing object and arrays pretty often, so you'll need to be pretty good at picking all that stuff apart. And although we're listing it last, it shouldn't be last in your mind. The security features of your selected programming language. This is in addition to basic computer skills such as using your web browser, creating plain text files and so on. If you have any doubts at all in your abilities in these areas, you're in the best place in the world to get caught up, the LinkedIn Learning Library.

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