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🧩 What Is an API? How APIs Work (for Non-Developers)
💡 An #API is an intermediary piece of #code that allows pieces of #software to communicate with each other. APIs can speed the #development of software — here’s how.
An application programming interface (API) is a piece of code that acts as an intermediary between two different pieces of software and enables them to communicate with each other. Or in other words, it’s a user interface for software instead of a person.
Software developers have used APIs to integrate software for decades (for example, developing an application for operating systems like Microsoft Windows requires an API). However, APIs are quickly becoming the cornerstone of the software and hardware markets because of the ways they can speed up the development of cloud-based technologies and help businesses provide better customer experiences.
Here’s how APIs work in simple terms, as well as how businesses could stand to benefit from using them in the software development process.
An API works similarly to how a waiter or waitress acts as an intermediary between the kitchen and customer in a restaurant. When a customer visits a restaurant and places an order, the waiter (our API) translates and relays the order from the customer to the kitchen (the services that the customer wants to access). Then, the kitchen prepares the meal, and the waiter delivers it to the customer as requested.
Similarly, when you visit the website of a SaaS product and log in via a social media account, an API relays your request to the social network of your choosing, verifies your identity, and then returns that verification to the backend services you’re trying to access.
This process is beneficial for both you and the web app you’re trying to access because it simplifies the process — you don’t need to navigate the inner workings of a restaurant kitchen to get a hot meal, and the kitchen staff doesn’t have to take your order while also trying to cook.