What is an API?

[Music] connectivity is an amazing thing by now we're all used to the instant connectivity that puts the world at our fingertips from desktops or devices we can purchase post pin and pick anything anywhere we are connected to the world and each other like never before but how does it happen how does data get from here to there how do different devices and applications connect with each other to allow us to place an order make a reservation or book a flight with just a few types of things the unsung hero of our connected world is the application programming interface or API it's the engine under the hood and is behind the scenes that we take for granted but it's what makes possible all the interactivity we've come to expect and rely upon but exactly what is an API it's a question everyone asks ok not really but we're glad you did the textbook definition go something like this in computer programming an application programming interface API is a set of routines protocols okay to speak plainly an API is the messenger that takes requests and tells a system what you want to do and then returns the response back to you to give you a familiar example think of an API as a we're in a restaurant imagine you're sitting at the table with a menu of choices to order from in the kitchen is the part of the system which will prepare your order what's missing is the critical link to communicate your order to the kitchen and deliver your food back to your table that's where the waiter or API comes in M the waiter is the messenger that takes your request or order and tells the system in this case the kitchen what to do and then delivers the response back to you in this case food now that we've whetted your appetite let's apply this to a real API example you are probably familiar with the process of searching for airline flights online just like at a restaurant you have a menu of options to choose from a drop-down menu in this case you choose a departure City and date a return city and date tabbing clasp and other variables in order to book your flight you interact with the airlines website to access the airline's database to see if any seats are available on those dates and what the cost might be based on certain variables but what if you're not using the Airlines website which has direct access to the information what if you are using an online travel service that aggregates information from many different airlines the travel service interacts with the airline's API the API is the interface that like you're helpful where can be asked by that online travel service to get information from the airline system over the Internet to book seats choose meal preferences or baggage options it also then takes the Airlines response to your request and delivers it right back to the online travel service which then shows it to you so now you can see that it's AP is that make it possible for us all to use travel sites the same goes for all interactions between applications data and devices they all have api's that allow computers to operate them and that's what ultimately creates connectivity so whenever you think of an API just think of it as your waiter running back and forth between applications databases and devices to deliver data and create the connectivity that puts the world at our fingertips and whenever you think of creating an API think mule soft

Channel: MuleSoft Videos

Views: 4,988,408

Keywords: Application Programming Interface (Literature Subject), API, MuleSoft (Business Operation), mulesoft, anypoint platform, Technology (Industry), education, learning, what is an api, api testing, what is api testing, apigee, mashery, api management, api best practices, api blueprint, api framework, api gateway, api integration, api proxy, rest api, api security, api usage, api versioning, raml, https://www.youtube.com/user/mulesoftvids

Id: s7wmiS2mSXY

Length: 3min 25sec (205 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 19 2015