What is the API?

API stands for Application Programming Interface, an intermediary software that allows two applications to talk to each other. Every time you use an app like Facebook, send an instant message or check the weather on your phone, you are using the API.

An example of an API

When using an application on a mobile phone, the application connects to the Internet and sends data to the server. After that, the server retrieves that data, interprets it, performs the necessary actions and sends it back to the phone. The application will then interpret that data and present the information you want in a readable way.

What is the API? Picture 1

For ease of understanding, see a familiar example later.

Imagine, in a restaurant, you are a customer ordering food and the kitchen is part of the 'system' to prepare the menu for you. What is missing here is an important link to convey customers' requests to the kitchen and deliver food to their tables. This important link is a waiter or API. Waiter - API is the messenger, will receive requests to order and communicate back to the kitchen - the system. After the food is ready, the waiter will deliver it to the customer.

This is a practical example of API. You may be familiar with the process of searching for online flights. Just like a restaurant, you have a variety of options such as different cities, departure dates and return dates, etc. Imagine you are booking a flight on an airline website. You can choose your destination, date of departure, date of return, type of ticket as well as many other options. To book a flight, you need to interact with the airline website to access their database and see the availability of a seat on a certain day and how much it will cost.

However, what if you do not use the airline website - what does a channel have direct access to information? What if you are using online travel services, such as Kayak or Expedia, so how do you access airline data engines?

In this case, the travel service interacts with the airline's API, requesting it to retrieve information from the airline's database. The API then passes the airline's feedback to the customer's request and passes it back to the online travel service, showing you the most up-to-date related information.

API provides a layer of security

Your phone data should never be 'exposed' entirely to the server, and similarly, the server is the same. Instead, each time communicating with small packets, it only shares the essentials. Like ordering, you tell the restaurant what you want to eat, they will bring up what you need.

APIs are so valuable that they make up a large part of the business revenue. Big companies like Google, eBay, Salesforce.com, Amazon and Expedia are just a few of the companies making money from the API. What "API economy" refers to is the market of APIs.

Modern API

Over the years, APIs are often described as a common connection interface for an application. Recently, however, modern APIs have a number of characteristics that make them more useful and valuable:

1. Modern APIs comply with standards (usually HTTP and REST), are easy to use and understandable and user-friendly.
2. API is handled more like product than code. They are designed for specific audiences (for example, mobile device developers).
3. Because they are more standardized, the security and management are strong, as well as better monitoring and management of performance and scale.
4. Like any other software, modern API has its own software development cycle (SDLC) for design, testing, construction, and management.

See more:

1. 7 Framework JavaScript for mobile application development
2. 75 great user interface design ideas you need to know - Part 3
3. 5 free application building platforms do not need code