API stands for Application Programming Interface. It may sound like something out of a glossary
 of technical terms. Even if you don’t know what it exactly means and how it works, you are
 unconsciously using it in everyday life. You track the live location of a delivery partner carrying your favorite snack for your midnight
 cravings with Google Maps on an app. You log in with Facebook or Google credentials to save
 yourself the hassles of creating an account on each platform. In all these everyday activities,
 APIs are working in the background. So what exactly is an API, How does it make our lives easier API provides applications with a standardized way to communicate with each other and
 exchange information. APIs will act as the messenger to deliver requests and responses between both ends. APIs will return an error message if the resource requested by the user does not exist or is inaccessible. What are the characteristics of API Introduced as a generic connectivity interface, APIs have come a long way in the information technology sector. ● Internet standards like HTTP and REST adhere to modern APIs making them
 comprehensive and accessible to users ● Since it is basically software, it has its own software development cycle (SLDC) ● APIs unify many processes to speed up the operations for better a user experience ● APIs support pagination feature to deal efficiently with large data records What are the types of API APIs can be categorized into three types based on the availability and release policies: 1. Private/Internal APIs They are mostly used within the organization as they are typically developed for
 the employees to be used in the in-house applications or tools. 2. Partner APIs They are only aimed at business partners and customers or clients will be
 the end-users. They are often used for software integration between two organizations. 3. Public/External/Open APIs These APIs are typically developed for the public and will be available to any third-party developer. They have the most accessible release policy and can be further
 categorized as Open APIs and Commercial APIs. 4. Composite APIs It combines different data and services to improve the overall performance and
 execution process. It can execute a series of requests in a single call. What is an API call It is the process of submitting a request to the server's API from the client to retrieve
 information. As applications communicate with each other in the background, the process will
 seem instantaneous for the user. What is an API key It is a unique identifier used to authenticate calls to the other end. They are made up of unique strings and numbers that help in ensuring that the servers’ resources are used only by a specific
 set of clients. Still confused about how APIs work? Let us put all these terminologies to use in a real-world
 scenario. Imagine walking inside a movie theater to buy tickets in which you will represent the customer, the theater will be the server, and the ticket counter will be the API. You need a ticket to watch a movie and your interaction with the server-side begins and ends at the ticket counter. Typically you will pay at the ticket counter and get the ticket to enter the screen. You will not get to see
 exactly how the theater benefits from your money and how the share is divided between the
 stakeholders for mutual benefit. However, if there are issues with the seating capacity due to the enormous crowd, you will have
 to reserve the tickets earlier and will get an exclusive QR code. This QR code will be exclusive
 to you and can be compared to an API key. As the theater (client) provided an exclusive QR
 code (API key) to every customer, they will not be facing issues with handling the crowd
 (incoming resources). What are the benefits of APIs for businesses ● They are highly valuable to increase user engagement and functionality ● They help speed up the process ● They can be easily modified based on the requirements rather than writing the entire
 code ● They can be developed easily as the team will not be starting from scratch How do APIs benefit the users ● By speeding up the process, they improve the productivity of users ● The functionalities can improve user engagement and end-user satisfaction ● Bridges the gap between multiple applications by seamless integration Now that you have a vague idea of APIs and their benefits, let us take a look at their
 applications What are the applications of API ● Data sharing ● Embedded content ● Internal system access ● Application integrations Despite having so many benefits and functionalities, APIs have a set of cons to keep the developers on their feet. What are the cons of APIs ● APIs will not provide efficient protection against threats as a gateway. ● If an API is breached, other apps will also be vulnerable to attacks. ● Although they are easy to develop, they are complicated to manage in the long term. ● Require a high level of expertise to handle. ● Cannot be expected to be stable in every scenario. Now that you have a clear view of APIs, let us move on to some of the popular APIs in the real
 world and where they are being used. Some popular APIs in the world Twitter APIs Twitter offers APIs that can help to dive into its deep archives, opening up a ton of
 possibilities for the applications. It is up to the development team to harness the potential of
 APIs in the global communication sector to optimize the application for a better user experience. Instagram APIs The recent updates pushed by Instagram are helping businesses to reach out to
 customers in a whole new way. Applications enable customers to plug into the Instagram
 account effortlessly to share its user-generated content for various purposes. Google Maps APIs Google Maps API is a must-have for businesses that have location-based apps. The
 integration of Google Maps APIs has taken the on-demand service industry to a whole new
 level. With the high level of functionality offered by the API, businesses are able to operate
 hassle-free. Now let us have a brief look at making an API call as a step-by-step process. How to make API calls Step 1 Find the URL of the server or external program from which the data will be accessed. Step 2 Add a request verb to formulate the API request. Here are the basic request verbs: ➔ GET - To retrieve a resource from the server ➔ PUT - To retrieve or edit an existing resource ➔ DELETE - To erase a resource ➔ POST - To create a resource (new) After adding the request verb, the request will look something like this. This is an example of a request for seating availability in a movie theater. GET https://api.bookmyshow.com/api/alt-seats-availability/v1/nearest.json?api_key=XXXXXXXXX&lo
cation=Chennai Step 3 Include a header in your API request There are three types of headers - Content type, user agent, and accept. It helps the API to
 understand the request and responds in a way that’s easy to understand. Step 4 Include an API key with your API request Step 5 Wait for a response from the server-side You will get a status code based on the status of your request. Why should you test API calls As there will be many APIs, testing API calls is important to get an overall idea about their
 performance, vulnerability, reliability, performance, etc. It consists of making API calls to get
 various responses from multiple endpoints and will be usually done with a software or web
 service. How safe are APIs Security is a primary concern on the internet as it involves user data, company reputation, and
 more. APIs are prone to vulnerabilities such as issues with authorization, broken authentication,
 code injection, etc. Organizations have a separate team to regularly test APIs and identify the
 potential threats in them. By following these practices, APIs can be secured from threats. What is the future of APIs Somewhere down the line, the emergence of APIs has given rise to a full-fledged business
 economy. Initially started as a support for backend operations, APIs are set to become an
 extension to the business process to perform heavy-duty stuff. With its potential to automate tasks, APIs are set to define a new future with Web 3.0. Conclusion While we have covered the basics of APIs, there’s so much to learn about them. If you are
 interested in learning the application programming interface, take a look at these resources on . Linkedin

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A Brief Guide to Everything You Need to Know About APIs

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