{"id":10494,"date":"2022-05-09T07:00:31","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.codingdojo.com\/blog\/?p=10494"},"modified":"2022-12-13T09:28:39","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T17:28:39","slug":"what-is-an-api","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.codingdojo.com\/blog\/what-is-an-api","title":{"rendered":"What is an API?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you embark on your coding journey, there are dozens of phrases you might not be familiar with. So, what is an an API
\nAPI stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a piece of code that lets two programs talk to each other. A way to pass information and data between two programs directly. <\/span>Don\u2019t worry, they\u2019re not as complicated as they sound. An API is quite simple to use and a great way to get comfortable with some advance coding. Ultimately, you\u2019re really only sending a small piece of code to a server to get a response.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the point of an API?<\/span><\/h2>\n

There are many reasons to use an API, but ultimately it\u2019s to quickly send useful information between two programs. <\/span>
\nFor example, imagine you\u2019re developing a website. You want the website\u2019s background to change based on the current weather. <\/span><\/p>\n

How do you do it? <\/span>You could set up a camera to look out the window, add some complicated machine learning to figure out whether it\u2019s raining or not, and then change the background based on the result.<\/span>
\n Alternatively, you could create a program that scrapes the local news and grabs the weather from the webpage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both of those options are rather inefficient. Instead, you can just go to OpenWeather<\/a> and use their API to figure out the current weather in whatever location you please. Even better, you can do this all through one line of code by using an API. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is a rather basic example, but the principle is the same: <\/span>APIs take a complicated task and turn it into just a few lines of code.<\/span>\u00a0In the real world, you\u2019re likely sending data from your application to a third party, who will process it on their end, and then you retrieve the answer.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

How APIs they work and what is an API Key?<\/span><\/h2>\n

An API can only send and retrieve data or functions that have been programmed into them. The creator of the API, will show which commands you\u2019ll need to send to retrieve or send data to them. Often, you\u2019ll also need an authentication code, more commonly known as an API key.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is basically your login information and proves that the command you\u2019re sending is coming from you. <\/span>To interact with an API, it\u2019s very similar to just typing in a web address. You\u2019re just adding a little code to the URL, so it looks like this: <\/span>api.acme.com\/?get=bunny_season=a[authcode]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Once you send that, you\u2019ll get a response. The format for the data you get back will depend on the API, but is often something like XML or JSON. And exactly how you make this request inside your code will depend on the programming language you\u2019re using.<\/span><\/p>\n

API Glossary<\/h2>\n

There are a few terms related to APIs you’ll likely come across while researching or working with them for the first time. Here’s what they mean:<\/p>\n

What is an API Key?<\/h3>\n

An API key is more commonly known as an authentication code. It’s a unique string of of numbers that allows an API to identify a user or, more commonly, an application that is making a request. When applied to users, API keys are commonly used as an extra layer of security.<\/p>\n

What is an API Call?<\/h3>\n

AN API call is simply the medium in which a request is sent or received. In order for programs to interact with each other, like in the weather example used above, your website homepage would be creating an API call to OpenWeather in order to receive the current temperature.<\/p>\n

What is an API Gateway?<\/h3>\n

While an API call is the medium that manages requests, an API gateway is the aspect that organizes each requests so the end user is given the appropriate information. It effectively sits between a client and data, accepts all API calls, then returns them with the correct requested data.<\/p>\n

What is an API Endpoint?<\/h3>\n

Perhaps the most self-explanatory term, an API endpoint is the point in which API connects with that actual software or user that is making the request or call.<\/p>\n

What is an API Token?<\/h3>\n

Similar to an API key, an API tokens allows APIs to authenticate users. API tokens are less common than keys and are exclusive to users. They are smaller and faster to create than keys, thus making them more useful when authenticating a person as opposed to a program.<\/p>\n

What can an API do?<\/span><\/h2>\n

There are typically only four actions you can take:<\/span><\/p>\n