What
is an API? (Application Programming Interface)
API is the acronym for
Application Programming Interface, which is a software program middleman that
permits two functions to speak to each other. Each time you use an app like
Facebook, ship an instant message, or test the climate on your phone, you’re
the use of an API
What Is an Example of an API?
When you use an utility on
your cellular phone, the utility connects to the Internet and sends information
to a server. The server then retrieves that data, interprets it, performs the
critical actions and sends it returned to your phone. The software then
interprets that records and gives you with the information you wanted in a
readable way. This is what an API is - all of this happens through 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 picks to order from.
The kitchen is the part of the “system” that will prepare your order. What is
lacking is the integral link to speak your order to the kitchen and deliver
your food back to your table. That’s the place the waiter or API comes in. The
waiter is the messenger – or API – that takes your request or order and tells
the kitchen – the gadget – what to do. Then the waiter gives you the response
returned to you; in this case, it is the food.
Here
is a real-life API example. You may be acquainted with the method of looking
out flights online. Just like the restaurant, you have a variety of selections
to select from, inclusive of distinct cities, departure and return dates, and
more. Let us think about that you’re booking you are flight on an airline
website. You pick a departure metropolis and date, a return city and date,
cabin class, as properly as different variables. In order to book your flight,
you have interaction with the airline’s internet site to get right of entry to
their database and see if any seats are available on these dates and what the
fees would possibly be.
However, what if you are now not using the airline’s website––a channel that has direct get right of entry to to the information? What if you are the usage of an on-line journey service, such as Traveloka or Booking.com, which aggregates records from a quantity of airline databases?
The journey service, in this case, interacts with the airline’s API. The API is the interface that, like your helpful waiter, can be asked by that on-line travel provider to get facts from the airline’s database to e book seats, baggage options, etc. The API then takes the airline’s response to your request and offers it right again to the on-line journey service, which then shows you the most updated, applicable information.
