What exactly is the meaning of an API? [closed]

by

Searches should include Wikipedia, which is surprisingly good for a number of programming concepts/terms such as Application Programming Interface:

What is an API?

An application programming interface (API) is a particular set of rules (‘code’) and specifications that software programs can follow to communicate with each other. It serves as an interface between different software programs and facilitates their interaction, similar to the way the user interface facilitates interaction between humans and computers.

How is it used?

The same way any set of rules are used.

When and where is it used?

Depends upon realm and API, naturally. Consider these:

  1. The x86 (IA-32) Instruction Set (very useful 😉
  2. A BIOS interrupt call
  3. OpenGL which is often exposed as a C library
  4. Core Windows system calls: WinAPI
  5. The Classes and Methods in Ruby’s core library
  6. The Document Object Model exposed by browsers to JavaScript
  7. Web services, such as those provided by Facebook’s Graph API
  8. An implementation of a protocol such as JNI in Java

Happy coding.

More Related Contents:

  1. Static/Dynamic vs Strong/Weak
  2. Functional, Declarative, and Imperative Programming [closed]
  3. Framework vs. Toolkit vs. Library [duplicate]
  4. Simulator or Emulator? What is the difference?
  5. What are REST resources?
  6. What is “runtime”?
  7. The Difference Between Deprecated, Depreciated and Obsolete [closed]
  8. Stateless vs Stateful
  9. What is a “tight loop”?
  10. often used seldom defined terms: lvalue
  11. What does ‘seeding’ mean?
  12. What is boilerplate code?
  13. What is dependency injection?
  14. What is a race condition?
  15. What is a magic number, and why is it bad? [closed]
  16. What exactly do we mean by “branch”?
  17. Difference between DTO, VO, POJO, JavaBeans?
  18. What is the difference between a framework and a library?
  19. What’s the difference between an argument and a parameter?
  20. What is the difference between currying and partial application?
  21. What is the difference between memoization and dynamic programming?
  22. What is a ‘SAM type’ in Java?
  23. What’s the difference between a character, a code point, a glyph and a grapheme?
  24. What is the difference between “IS -A” relationship and “HAS-A” relationship in Java? [duplicate]
  25. The most correct way to refer to 32-bit and 64-bit versions of programs for x86-related CPUs?
  26. What is an API key? [closed]
  27. Difference between a deprecated and a legacy API?
  28. What distinguishes the declaration, the definition and the initialization of a variable?
  29. Correct terms and words for sections and parts of selectors
  30. What does the NS prefix mean?

Leave a Comment