Web API

What is Web API ???

API stands for Application Programing Interface . A Web API is an application programming interface for the Web. It will expand the browser features . The Web API is an improved form of web application that offers services on multiple devices , such as computers, mobile devices and others.The web application helps to share internet information and also helps to carry out a secure website transaction. Two types of scripts are part of a web application . 1) Client-side scripts 2) Server-side scripts

Who uses API?

Different types of users can use these services, like: Web Browsers
Mobile applications ,Desktop applications ,IOTs (Internet of Things)

Features of Web API

Efficiency ,Wider reach, Customizable , Personalization, Data ownership, Easy integration with GUI, Time effective, Language-independent

we use two type of API

1 -> REST(Representational state transfer) 2->SOAP(Simple Object Access Protocol)

Why we use web APIs ?

It is used in web applications as well as many smartphone apps and other external devices to access service data . It is used to build web services that are RESTful. For networked hypermedia applications, REST stands for Representational State Transition, which is an architectural style. It is primarily used to develop lightweight, maintainable and scalable web services that support limited bandwidth. A basic HTTP Web Service is built using it. Support for XML , JSON and other formats of data

Examples for web APIs.

Browser APIs : Browser APIs are integrated into your web browser and are capable of disclosing browser and device environment information and doing useful, complex things with it.

Third-party APIs :By design, third-party APIs are not integrated into the browser.

• The Twitter API, which allows you to do things like displaying your latest tweets on your website.
• Map APIs like Mapquest and the Google Maps API allows you to do all sorts of things with maps on your web pages.
• The Telegram APIs allows you to embed content from Telegram channels on your website, in addition to providing support for bots.
• The YouTube API, which allows you to embed YouTube videos on your site, search YouTube, build playlists, and more
• The Pinterest API provides tools to manage Pinterest boards and pins to include them in your website
• The Twilio API, which provides a framework for building voice and video call functionality into your app, sending SMS/MMS from your apps, and more.

Limitations of web APIs.

Creating API is a very time-consuming process .The need for a fixed scale is
Delineation of Imprecise Boundary
Programming knowledge is important for creating APIs.
The cost of maintenance is very high.
When checking the API, it can crash.