Application Programming Interface

 

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a arrangement of submitting descriptions, communication protocols, and tools for building software. It can also be described as a set of clearly defined methods of communication between various components. A great API makes it easier to develop a computer program by providing all the building blocks, which are then put together by the programmer. It may be used for a web-based system, operating system, database system, computer hardware, or software library. Its specification can take many forms, but often includes specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, variables, or remote calls.

Examples  of different forms of APIs are :-POSIX, Windows API and ASPI.

Three basic types of APIs

APIs has three basic forms:

  1. Local API
  2. Web APIs  and
  3. Program APIs.
  • Local APIs are the authentic form, from which the name came. This API  offer OS or middleware services to application programs. Examples of the local API form are Microsoft’s .NET APIs, the TAPI (Telephony API) for voice applications, and database access APIs.
  • Web APIs are arranged to perform broadly used resources like HTML pages and are accessed using a simple HTTP protocol. These are often called REST (representational state transfer) or RESTful because the publisher of REST interfaces doesn‘t save any data internally between requests. Due to many requests from users can be intermingled as they would be on the internet.
  • Program APIs are mainly based on Remote Procedure Call (RPC) technology that makes a remote program component appear to be local to the rest of the software. Examples of the Program APIs are Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) APIs, such as Microsoft‘s WS-series of APIs, are program APIs.

Conclusion

APIs depict a excellent opportunity for the enterprise to integrate applications quickly and easily. But APIs can be a double-edged sword as promising agility, while at the same time increasing risk. And if an organization can address API security as an architectural challenge long before any development takes place, it can reap the rewards of this technological breakthrough safely and securely. The API frugality now spans thousands of API-providing companies across hundreds of categories.

BAYINFOTECH, provides each category with multiple offerings, all competing for the affections and money of third-party developers, any one of which could unleash the next API consuming Zillow, Instagram or Uber.