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General Discussion

Posted by Kendall Chung
Kendall Chung
9,511 Points

What is API?

I hear this term a lot throughout all fields and industry, what does treehouse mean when they say API in this video?

Thanks guys!

1 Answer

Daniel Gauthier
Daniel Gauthier
15,000 Points
Daniel Gauthier
Daniel Gauthier
15,000 Points

Hey Kendall,

This is the definition from Webopedia:

"API (application program interface) is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. The API specifies how software components should interact and APIs are used when programming graphical user interface (GUI) components."

Good luck!

jcorum
jcorum
71,830 Points

For example, if you have an app or web page that returns words, and you want your users to be able to get definitions for any word they don't already know, you can get the definitions from on-line dictionaries, but to do so you need to look at their API and find out how to interact with their database: the way to request a definition, the format the definitions come back in, pricing, etc. Here's the API for Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary with Audio: http://www.dictionaryapi.com/products/api-collegiate-dictionary.htm

Another example would be Google maps. If you want to include a map in your app or webpage you would need to study Google's map API: https://developers.google.com/maps/