What is API in Programming?

 If you are a programmer you have probably heard the term API before. Or if you're new to the term, keep reading to find out what an API is in programming and how it's used.

APIs are used in web applications, financial institutions, and video games, just to name a few. Let's explore what an API is in programming and how it can be used.

What are APIs?

API stands for Application Programming Interface. The API provides a way for separate programs to interact with each other. The API defines the requests that can be made, how to make the requests, and enables the exchange of data between different software applications.

API is available in three forms: public, private, and partner. The Public API (or Open API) is publicly accessible to any developer. Use of the Public API has some limitations, and can be free or commercial. Private API is used exclusively within a company or organization. Whereas the Partner API is only available to certain business partners, which are most often used to facilitate software integration between two different businesses.

You need to know that the term "API" actually has nothing to do with things related to the web, because the term existed before the web. It is sort of co-opted to mean “calling a web service”. But traditionally, the understanding of the API is not like that. But more to do with the functions provided by the Operating System.

What is the Purpose of Making an API?

The increasing use of applications available on various platforms, makes each platform require data integration. Where later the data on the web with the data on the mobile application must be the same so that data duplication does not occur on two different platforms. Therefore, an API was created which aims to facilitate the process of exchanging data between integrated applications and to speed up the development process by providing separate functions so that developers do not need to create similar features.

How is the API Used?

APIs are used in a variety of cases spanning categories such as database APIs, remote APIs, and web APIs. You have most likely interacted with the web API several times, while browsing on your smartphone or computer. Web API exchanges requests and data using the HTTP protocol.

Travel booking websites, such as Traveloka and Booking.com, use web APIs to collect flight and destination data for their customers. The convenience of the web API makes it such that you can confirm the availability of hotel rooms and the length of your stay in real-time by exchanging your requests and data from the hotel instantly.

APIs can also allow their users to safely tap into external data and functionality. With more than 24,000 APIs available, users can now take advantage of the functionality of applications such as Google Translate without having to re-type complex and lengthy code to build the application.

Conclusion

So what are APIs? API is a software that allows developers to integrate and allow two different applications simultaneously to be connected to each other. In short, API allows applications to communicate with each other.

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Resa Risyan

Just an ordinary person who wants to share a little knowledge, hopefully the knowledge I provide can be useful for all of us. Keep in mind! Useful knowledge is an investment in the afterlife.