Dear All,

    APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, seem to be more important than ever before in today's market. They let us communicate critical data and expose useful business functionality among devices, apps, and humans.

What is an API actually?

An API is a set of programming codes that allows data to be sent from one software product to another. It contains the data exchange's phrase.

Types of APIs

There are three most common types of APIs nowadays.

1.       Public

2.       Partner

3.       Private

Public API

API's are publicly available to developers and other users with minimal restriction. They may require registration, use of an API Key or OAuth, or maybe completely open. Available to any third party developers as well.

Partner API

Partner APIs are APIs exposed by/to the strategic business partners. They are not available publicly and need specific entitlement to access them.

Private API

    Also known as Internal /Private APIs, are hidden from external users and only exposed by internal systems. Internal APIs are not meant for consumption outside of the company but rather for use across different internal development teams for better productivity and reuse of services.

Why do we need APIs?

    APIs make it easier to access a variety of resources. They also allow cross-platform communication which solves certain business logic.

-          APIs are efficient

-          APIs make things simpler

API in Cloud

     A Cloud API is a software interface that allows developers to link cloud computing services together. Application programming interfaces (APIs) allow one computer program to make its data and functionality available for other programs to use. Developers use APIs to connect software components across a network.

Some examples of everyday use cases of API

- Weather Snippets 

Weather data is a popular API use case that we see on a regular basis. Rich weather snippets appear to be ubiquitous, appearing in places as diverse as Google Search, Apple's Weather app, and even your smart home gadget. For example, if you Google "weather + [your city's name], you'll see a dedicated box (called a rich snippet) at the top of the search results with the current weather conditions and predictions.

-          Banks and other financial organizations 

They utilize proprietary APIs to track and manage checking accounts, credit cards, and other accounts.

-          Retail companies : 

    APIs are used by retail giants to interface with courier networks, ensuring that shipments are picked up as quickly as possible and tracked as they move.

-          Web apps

They take help of APIs to connect user-facing front ends with all-important back end functionality and databases.

-           Automotive companies 

They (like Tesla) send software updates via APIs. Others use APIs to unlock car data for third-parties.

Final Thoughts

APIs are all around you, and all you have to do is pick up your phone to see one in action. APIs are used to support everything from Google weather searches to Facebook log-ins, PayPal payments, and Twitter bot interactions. Aside from that, APIs are used for a lot more than just that. We may not notice them as much as we should, yet they're an important part of our online life.

How are you using APIs day to day life? Let’s know in the comment box.