What is an application program interface (API)?
Simply put, an application program interface (API) is a set of tools, protocols, and routines that make it possible for two or more different applications (or components of applications) to securely and easily exchange functionality and data, simplifying the software development process and the everyday tasks a user might perform using their computer or smart device.
If you wish to learn more about this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: How does an application program interface (API) make software development easier?
As we have seen in the previous section, an API makes software development easier by allowing different software components and solutions to communicate with each other and exchange data subject and functionality.
This means that a web developer building a travel website, for example, no longer needs to code everything from scratch. They can just use existing APIs to add a host of extremely useful travel-related features—such as a flight and hotel scanner—to the site. Just imagine how much time and money this will save.
It is also using application program interfaces (APIs) that developers are able to easily build customised e-commerce websites on platforms such as Amazon and eBay or add YouTube videos or entire social media feeds on a website.
But it is not just developers that benefit from using an application program interface (API) as we will see in the next section:
Question #2: How does an API make everyday computer tasks easier?
An application program interface (API) makes everyday computer tasks easier for users in the exact same way it simplifies software development for programmers: by allowing two or more applications to easily and securely communicate with each other and exchange data and functionality.
An example would be the simple act of copying and pasting data across the different applications you might use on a daily basis. You do not even have to think about it. You just know that pressing ctrl+C (cmd+C on Mac) copies whatever file or piece of text you have selected, and pressing ctrl+V (cmd+V on Mac) pastes it.
Question #3: What are examples of application program interfaces (APIs)?
Instead of naming specific examples of application program interfaces (APIs), let us just talk about specific situations that you might have encountered one to give you a better idea of how they work in the real world.
First, if you have ever searched for a flight online using a third-party platform such as Skyscanner to find the best deals on a specific flight, then you have seen an application program interface (API) in action.
You see, platforms such as Skyscanner do not actually have a database of all the available flights of all airlines. And even if they did, it would be impossible to keep their data up to date, so it would be pointless to even have a database in the first place.
What they do instead is use an application program interface (API) to scan the flight databases of different airlines in real time to find the best deals around.
The same goes for platforms that specialise in finding deals on hotel rooms, such as Agoda and Booking.com. They also do not have an actual database of all the available rooms in every hotel in the world. They simply use an application program interface (API) to scan the databases of hotels whenever a user initiates a search.
Another example you are probably quite familiar with is the Pay using PayPal button on virtually all modern online shops. Whenever you click on it, the online store simply calls PayPal in to handle the transaction and waits for PayPal to send you back once the process is completed.