What is Application Programming Interface (API)?

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules and protocols that allow software components to communicate with each other. It defines the types of requests that can be made, the format of the data that should be used, and the conventions to follow.

Application Programming Interface is used to enable communication and data exchange between different software systems, often over a network. They allow one system to access and manipulate the functionality of another system or service. For example, an API might allow a mobile app to retrieve data from a server or allow a user to post a comment on a website.

APIs are typically implemented as a set of programming instructions that specify the various operations that can be performed on data and the specific way that they should be carried out. They often use a specific programming language, such as JavaScript or Python, and are accessed over the internet using a network protocol, such as HTTPS.

There are various types of APIs, including web APIs for communication between websites and web applications and system APIs for communication between different software components within a single system.