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General Discussion

Posted by Miguel Nunez
Miguel Nunez
3,266 Points

What is a API I know its stands for application programming interface, But please explain in your own words simply.

And please no links from other websites, because I already looked around by using google thank you.

1 Answer

Ryan Field
PLUS
Ryan Field
Courses Plus Student 21,242 Points
Ryan Field
Ryan Field
Courses Plus Student 21,242 Points

Hi, Miguel. An API, at its most basic, is a way for outside (or third-party) applications to interact with your (or another company's) application.

For example, Dropbox has an API that allows you to write your own programs (in PHP or whatever other coding language) that can interact with Dropbox accounts using specific predetermined commands. Whether an API lets you have on READ or WRITE access (or both) is entirely up to the developer. Another example is Blizzard's API, which grants access to character data, equipment data, and other item data, but only allows READ access as opposed to Dropbox, which allows both using OAuth.