API Application Programming Interface API Definition API explained

API Application Programming Interface • API Definition • API explained in a traditional example • Types of APIs • API examples: Some APIs that we use in our daily life • Why APIs are important for business – uses of APIs • API in conclusion

API Definition According to Wikipedia, an application programming interface (API) is a computing interface to a software component or a system, that defines how other components or systems can use it. According to google definition, API are a set of functions and procedures allowing the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating systems, application, or other services In other words, API is a tool that takes data and information and make it universally acceptable to use by others to create web or mobile apps.

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Types of APIs – by availability

Types of APIs – by Web Services REST – Representational State Transfer: The most popular web API architecture. Examples google, twitter. Simply, you make a call from client to server and get the data back. This type of APIs are most commonly used to “get” and “post” the data – its driven by data. SOAP – Simple object access protocol: Unlike REST, this is a standard communication protocol system that permits processes using different operating systems such as Linux, windows. SOAP’s main function is to define the structure of the message and methods of communication using a machine-readable language - more of heavy load transmissions that requires more bandwidth for its usage. XML-RPC – e. Xtensible Markup Language – Remote Procedure Call JSON-RPC – Java. Script Object Notation – Remote Procedure Call XML and JSON are also protocol that uses specific formats to transfer data. JSON supports only text and data. On the other hand, XML supports various types of data such as text, numbers, images, graphs, charts, etc.

API Examples • An API is a technical development environment that enables access to another party’s application or platform. Some famous examples of this technology are: • Facebook and google allows the users to sign up for third-party apps. • Google also provides very popular API that enables mapping and location services in third party applications. • Linked. In’s API is another popular interface for business professionals. • Recreation. gov stores information about federal recreation areas, facilities, events, activities, and more, in the Recreational Information Database (RIDB). This information has been made available through the RIDB Web Services API, which returns responses in XML and JSON. • Airbnb, Trip. Advisor, Priceline, and Expedia are few names among travel industry APIs. Similar to Facebook and Linked. In, these APIs allow developers to securely authenticate accounts. User have the ability to push updates to contents of the listings.

How APIs are useful Phone widgets, notifications, alarm systems on the phone are few of functionality examples. The app developers do not need to create these functions from scratch. Other examples are AIs. Extend Functionality App developers can use system APIs to ask for location services. There are only a few systems that can capture your location. Another example would be using Facebook or google profiles to sign up with apps Access data API Security Rather than going in the kitchen yourself, the waiter tells status of your order. Google and Apple use weather channel to show weather on their apps. Hide complexity You don’t need to know how to prepare a dish. App developers don’t have worry about drawing formats for design or how to create own map or GPS.

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API in conclusion • APIs are all around us, and they are an integral part of the modern development ecosystem. • They are designed so that multiple apps and services can work together • Having spent a relatively little time studying the APIs, you can use them to widely extend the capability and functionally for your own application. • APIs are beneficial because they allow developers to add specific functionality to their apps without dealing with complex codes.