API: definition and examples

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Your internet experience runs on APIs. APIs help you compare the best prices for flights, let you embed a map of your favorite restaurant on your blog, or seamlessly process your credit card payments. But what is an API and why are they so important today? In this article, we’ll give you a comprehensive and accessible definition of APIs and show you how they’re used in everyday life.

Summary

What is an API? [Definition]
Why are APIs important?
API Types
Connected servers
How is Google Calendar API different from all other remote server API?
Conclusion
Summary

What is an API? [Definition]
API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a concept and an intangible element. APIs work on an agreement of inputs and outputs.

Application : This could be apps you use on your smartphone or software you use.
Programming : Developers use APIs to build software.
Interface : How you interact with the app.
A for “Application”
Let’s take a look at some examples of APIs. “Application” can refer to paraguay whatsapp list many things. Here are some of them in the context of API:

A piece of software with a distinct function.
The entire server, the entire application, or just a small part of an application.
Basically, any software that can be distinctly separated from its environment, can be an "A" in API, and will likely have some sort of API as well. Let's say you use a third-party library in your code. Once integrated into your code, that library becomes part of your overall application. Being a separate piece of software, the library would likely have an API that allows it to interact with the rest of your code. Here's another example: In Object Oriented Design, code is organized into objects. Your application might have hundreds of objects defined that can interact with each other. Each object has an API, a set of public methods and properties that it uses to interact with other objects in your application. An object can also have private internal logic, meaning it is hidden from the external scope (and not an API).

Some examples of how APIs work in everyday life
1st example:
To use an analogy, let’s compare APIs to ordering a drink at a bar. When you go to the bar, you have a menu with several drinks listed. There is an agreement here (the concept of the API), where you will order a drink and be served. The menu as presented to you is the interface. All the drinks listed on the menu are what the bartender can and has agreed to serve. When you ask for a certain drink on the menu, you get it. But if you ask for something that is not on the menu, like a vodka martini instead of a gin martini, the bartender will tell you no because it is not something they have agreed to serve. Let’s say you want the martini delivered to your home. You call a delivery service and order it. When you order it, someone will pass your order to the bartender, the bartender will make the martini, and someone will deliver it to your home. This is an example of a service built on an “API.”