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API stands for Application Programming Interface and it’s quite simply a piece of technology that allows two different systems to talk to each other.
But what does this means?
Think of different systems as different persons who use different languages as their native tongue. Take the word “(“Hello”) for example. Although everyone is saying the same thing (“Hello”), however, due to different cultures and languages, the same word (“Hello”) is spoken differently by everyone.
Similarly, different information system has their unique way to process data and the output of these data may be different for each of these information systems.
API, in simple explanation, is just a way for different systems to communicate with one another – in this case, via a “common language” which is commonly known amongst the various parties.
As you can see from the example above, the English language is the common language that is shared amongst all and it facilities communication amongst all parties.
Similarly, API offers a common standard to allow data amongst different systems to communicate with one another. The most common way is with JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), which is a document with a bunch of text that’s organized in a way an API can easily parse through.
Thus, with API, it helps to standardize communication between devices and systems, which enables the interconnectivity amongst various systems.
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This post is contributed by: Jerry Lim
