Explained: What is an Application Program Interface (API)
Application Program Interface (API) which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Each time you use an app like Facebook, send an instant message, or check the weather on your phone, you're using an API.
Application Program Interface (API) is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can be made, how to make them, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, etc. It is a mechanism that allows the interaction between two applications using a set of rules.
Example of an Application Program Interface (API)
When you use an application on your mobile phone, the application connects to the Internet and sends data to a server. The server then retrieves that data, interprets it, performs the necessary actions, and sends it back to your phone. The application then analyzes that data and presents you with the information you wanted in a readable way. This is what an API is – all of this happens via API. To explain this better, let us take a familiar example. Imagine you’re sitting at a table in a restaurant with a menu of choices to order from. The kitchen is the part of the “system” that will prepare your order. What is missing is the critical link between communicating your order to the kitchen and delivering your food back to your table. That’s where the waiter or API comes in. The waiter is the messenger – or API – that takes your request or order and tells the kitchen – the system – what to do. Then the waiter delivers the response back to you; in this case, it is the food. Here is a real-life API example. You may be familiar with the process of searching for flights online. Just like the restaurant, you have a variety of options to choose from, including various cities, departure and return dates and more. Let us imagine that you’re booking you are flight on an airline website. You choose a departure city and date, a return city and date, cabin class, as well as other variables. To book your flight, you interact with the airline’s website to access their database and see if any seats are available on those dates and what the costs might be.
Types of Application Program Interface (API)
Open APIs: It is also known as public API. There are no restrictions to access these types of APIs because they are publicly available.
Partner APIs: A developer needs specific rights or licenses to access this API type because they are not available to the public.
Internal APIs: It is also known as Private APIs. Only internal systems expose this type of API. These are usually designed for internal use within a company. The company uses this type of API among the various internal teams to improve its products and services.
Composite APIs: This type of API combines various data and service APIs. It is a sequence of tasks that run synchronously due to the execution and not at the request of a task. Its main uses are to speed up the implementation process and improve the listeners’ performance in the web interfaces.
Benefits of Application Program Interface (API)
APIs allow you to save time when developing and help not to invent a bicycle. It is much more efficient and convenient to use one of the APIs’ capabilities than to independently implement similar functionality. Moreover, it will be problematic to get some functions and data other than through the API (for example, a weather forecast, a thematic selection of news, or a high-quality translation from almost any language). APIs recharge your applications with the latest technology. With APIs, you can teach your application the newest image recognition and natural language processing methods.
How to start using an Application Program Interface (API)?
