What is an API?

Application Programming Interface (API) is a software intermediary that allows two programs to communicate with one another. Every time you use an app like Twitter, send an instant message or check the weather on your phone. You're using an API.

The new era APIs

Over the years, the term API has been used to refer to any type of application communication interface. However, in recent years, the contemporary API has acquired key qualities that make it extremely valuable and useful:

• Modern APIs follow developer-friendly, easily accessible, and widely understood protocols (usually HTTP and REST).
• They are handled as products rather than codes. They are developed for specific audiences (for example, mobile developers), they are published, and they are versioned so that users may expect certain maintenance and lifetime expectations.
• They have a lot greater discipline for security and governance, as well as being monitored and controlled for performance and scalability because they are much more conventional.