API basics

Have you ever used the weather app or Google Maps? Used Twitter or any other social networking sites, such as Facebook? If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you are already using APIs (application program interface).

An application programming interface, also known as an API, is a collection of computer instructions used to communicate across different software systems. APIs are widely utilized across a variety of industries.

Applications can use APIs to communicate with one another. For instance, a request from one app may result in a response from a different app. The API component, which the second app may use, may also be used to make the functionality of the first app available.

Think of APIs as the "middlemen" between your application and the server. Once you tell your app to perform a task on your behalf, it will interact with the web server using an API. This is referred to as a request. The API will then take the server's response and send it back to you in a structured way so that your application can interpret it..

In a nutshell, APIs provide an easy way for multiple application created at different times and by different people to exchange information in a secure and structured method. APIs are invaluable in today's connected web of applications and are an essential part of any application today.

SOAP API and REST API are the two most used API types. Let’s look at them in a bit more detail:

SOAP APIs

Web communication protocols called Simple Object Access Protocol APIs, or SOAP, are used for structured data and information transmission through HTTP and HTTPS. The only data format that SOAP supports is XML. SOAP was extensively used in the past because it was a secure standard that could facilitiate automation. However, REST exchange accounts for most of the web-based communication transfers on the modern internet.

XML, short for Extensible Markup Language, is like a universal language for data. It helps store and send data in a way that both people and computers can understand. It’s similar to HTML (the language used to create web pages), but with XML, you can make up your own ‘tags’ or labels for your data. This means you have the freedom to organize your data in a way that makes the most sense to you.

REST APIs

REST APIs view data as resources that can be identified by specific URLs. Therefore, you must supply the URL of the requested resource when utilizing HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, HEAD, DELETE, PATCH, and OPTIONS. To use these APIs you may need to transmit additional data along with the URL, such as an access key.

Information can be sent in a variety of formats, such as JSON, XML, CSV, plain text, and HTML, utilizing REST. For public APIs, REST continues to be very popular.