What is an API?

API is an acronym for Application Programming interface
Application Programming Interface (API) is a software middleman that allows two apps to communicate with one another.

You utilize an API every time you use an apps like ola, uber and swigyy, and try to track your delivery.

For Better Understanding lets take one familiar and easy example:

Imagine you’re sitting at a table in a restaurant with a menu of choices to order from.

The kitchen is the part of the “system” that will prepare your order.

What is missing is the critical link to communicate your order to the kitchen and deliver your food back to your table. That’s where the waiter or API comes in.

The waiter is the messenger or (API) that takes your request or order and tells the kitchen (the system) what to do.
Then the waiter delivers the response back to you; in this case, it is the food.

Here is a real-life API example.

You may be familiar with the process of searching for flights online. Just like the restaurant, you have a variety of options to choose from, including different cities, departure and return dates, and more.

Let us imagine that you’re booking you are flight on an airline website. You choose a departure city and date, a return city and date, cabin class, as well as other variables.

In order to book your flight, you interact with the airline’s website to access their database and see if any seats are available on those dates and what the costs might be.

Benifits of APIs

1. Security Any of the applications cant access the system data directly. So API provides one extra layer of security
2. Monitoring All the illegal activities can be tracked using an API key

Thank you for your read!