API is a way to let software components communicate each other.It enables to reach functions or attributes of software components.
Let’s assume that we are customers in a cafe , and we want to order some food.
In order to do that, we need to tell the waiter our order from menu. He writes our request down and delivers the order to the kitchen. When it is ready, the waiter brings our meal back to us.
According to the example of request-response relation, now it is easy to understand that customer is a software component as service consumer and kitchen is the system as service provider. Here the waiter is API which provides interaction between the customer and the kitchen.
API creates connectivity and makes it possible to get interaction with applications, data and devices. When you think what an API is, just imagine a waiter going through and coming back among applications, devices, databases.
For instance, a taxi application shows us locations of taxis which are close to us and API helps us to reach that operation or another example is that we want to compare prices of tickets for a flight and API provides that data comes to us from many databases. API interfaces are so widely used and make life easier.
Now let’s jump into the benefits of API :)
- Increases Productivity
Developers quickly implement existing function of any other API service into the application instead of building it from the ground up. So they tend to increase their productivity.
2. Saves Money
API works for independent platforms such as Android, IOS,Windows,MacOS. Therefore we do not need to build another program from the beginning, if there is an existing function which we would like to use in other API applications. Therefore they provide opportunity to save money.
3. Encourages Innovation
Innovation has a significant role in our life these days. Increased productivity and budget have huge effect on innovation. Enterprises can implement technologies with fewer resources.
4. Enhances Customer Experience
As we all know, many brands use APIs to deploy innovative artificial intelligence which analyzes a customer’s actions and recommends alternatives. This improves the customers’ experience and offers more personalized experiences.
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In this story , I tried to explain briefly what API is, how it works, which benefits it has. Thank you for reading , hope that it has been helpful for you :)
