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What is an API?
“API stands for “application programming interface,” but that makes it sound more complicated than it really is. More simply, an API is a set of rules of how one computer system can talk to another. Say that I’d like to utilize Netflix instant streaming through my Blu-ray player. My player knows how to load my Netflix queue and stream a movie, but the software team at Netflix doesn’t have to write a complicated application for every Blu-ray player, web-enabled TV, mobile phone, or tablet. Instead, they have a small dictionary of how to talk to the Netflix internal system. The Blu-ray player, or any other device with a Netflix ‘app’ can use that dictionary and give me a similar experience as I would get through Netflix.com on my laptop. That dictionary is their API.”
Notes
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