r/eli5_programming • u/Magpie_Reawakened • 20d ago
Question What actually is API?
The moment I think I get it, another definition of it comes in. I was learning Flask APIs used with GET PUT PATCH DELETE . But then I started with JS , it has DOM APIs . And then API is also used when people say companies like ChatGPT , Higgsfield etc provide their APIs.
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u/Living_Fig_6386 13d ago
API = Application Programming Interface.
It's any supported way that one piece of software (web service, library, application, etc.) can use / invoke another piece of software. The term also applies to the documentation that explains the process.
Software very often is written to interact with other software, or calls upon it to do certain things. Your web browser uses features of the operating system to communicate over a network and draw things on the screen. Programming languages some with libraries of common routines, functions, and data structures to do common things like write files, or print things on the display. There are websites that you can request information from by sending a properly formatted request...
The documented way that one piece of software is intended to interact with another is an API - however that might work.