A Beginner’s Guide to APIs
with Real World Examples
What exactly is an API?
API is an acronym for Application Programming Interface. It is defined as a system of tools and resources in an operating system which enable developers to create software applications. Typically, APIs use JSON (Javascript Object Notation) as the main language which provides methods designed to extract and manipulate data stored in HTML documents.
API’s aggregate data and complete processes over completely disparate systems, allowing them to interact with each other. In layman’s terms, think of them as a waiter in a restaurant.
A waiter takes the order from the customer which is then relayed to the chef. Once the chef completes the meal, the waiter brings the meal to the customer. Similarly, an API receives a request from an application. It then interacts with a foreign server/data source to collect and process a response, which is then returned to the application.
