What is an API? If you’re wondering, “What is an API?” you may not have heard the term before. Or perhaps you have a vague idea of what an API is or some understanding of what they do. In either case, we’re here to help: let’s dive in. Lire cet article en français....
A lot of people who work in technology have an intuitive understanding of what an API (application programming interface) is — but if you asked them to define it, they might have trouble putting an explanation into words. In simple terms, an API is both a piece of software running on a...
An API is a set of rules or protocols that enables software applications to communicate with each other to exchange data, features and functionality.
In a general sense, all APIs follow a similar pattern comprised of these three steps: authentication and access, request and response. Secure access becomes more important the more open an API is and the more sensitive its function. The Google Maps API, for example, is very public, an...
A software interface written to that specification and published in some way for use. This architecture is typically described inclient-serverterms. The application sending a request is the client, and the application sending the response is the server. The API bridges the connection between them....
Even though the word "interface" comes last in the definition of an API, it's not less important. Basically, the interface ensures seamless communication between users and the system. Let’s imagine that the car is a software product. It’s a complex system with many functions. However, it...
An application programming interface, typically shortened to API, is a set of rules which determines how one software program is able to access the data or functionality provided by another software program. Use of APIs dates back to the 1940s, when British computer scientists Maurice Wilkes and...
isGraphQL, a query language and server-side runtime that’s an alternative to REST. GraphQL prioritizes giving clients exactly the data they request and no more. As an alternative to REST, GraphQL lets developers construct requests that pull data from multiple data sources in a single API ...
API architecture refers to the process of developing a software interface that exposes backend data and application functionality for use in new applications. With an API-first architecture, you can create ecosystems of applications that are modular and reusable — which is ideal for microservices. ...
In terms of architecture, there are five types of APIs: REST APIs: REST APIs allow you to perform CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) operations between a client and a server. It provides multiple API endpoints to manipulate data. GraphQL APIs: It is a query language that lets clien...