API
A set of rules and protocols that allows two completely separate software systems to communicate and share data with each other seamlessly.
What it is
An API acts as a digital intermediary. When a weather app needs current data, it doesn't calculate the weather itself; it sends a structured request to a meteorological service's API. The API processes the request and returns the specific data (usually in JSON format), abstracting away the complex backend systems.
When you would use it
You interact with APIs constantly to connect your application to external services, databases, or third-party features you don't want to build from scratch.
Common operations
- Integrating Stripe's API to process credit card payments securely.
- Querying OpenAI's API to generate AI responses within a custom application.