What is an API?

API is one of the most used but misunderstood terms in tech & software development. Not everyone understands what exactly it means and why it is needed. Let’s figure it out together.

An API (application programming interface) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. 

In a nutshell, an APi is a bridge between two different computer systems / programs. Each time you use an app like Facebook, send an instant message, or check the weather on your phone, you’re using an API.

How do APIs work?

When you use an application on your mobile phone, the application connects to the Internet and sends data to a server. The server then retrieves that data, interprets it, performs the necessary actions and sends it back to your phone. The application then interprets that data and presents you with the information you wanted in a readable way. This is what an API is - all of this happens via API.

A well utilized API intergration would be Twitter, the interface through which it is able to provide you with information related to the user's tweets, who he follows, who his subscribers are, which is a small part of the real possibilities that anyone can implement using either their own or any third-party API.

APIs in the real world?

A good example of using an API is the process of quickly registering in various mobile apps using an account of any of the major social networks. Through a special social network API (for example, Vkontakte, Facebook), third-party companies get the opportunity to use a special code and API to provide you with quick and simplified login to their website / app.

Google, through the use of APIs, provides a potential opportunity for developers of various applications to use the integration of information from their services on their platforms. Thanks to this, you will be able to watch a video taken from YouTube.com right inside another website / application.

A large number of commercial companies offer the API as a ready-to-use product. As an example, the American company Weather Underground earns by selling access to its API for promptly obtaining meteorological data anywhere in our planet.

The CARMACHAIN API?

Our platform, CARMACHAIN,  is no exception. We not only integrate with various open and corporate APIs, but also companies can integrate with our platform through APIs both to receive data and to provide it. You can find a more detailed description of the api-architecture in the “Documentation” section of our website.

In conclusion of the article, it should be noted that in our time it is impossible to create high-quality and useful services without using API libraries, since they are necessary both for programmers to write software and applications, and for various services to provide & improve customer service services, and every year the role and scope API applications are only expanding.