API: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:13, 17 August 2025

Latest revision as of 04:31, 28 August 2025

(14 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown)

Line 3:

{{hatnote|"Api.php" redirects here. For the Wikipedia API, see {{Plain link|[Special:ApiHelp]}}.|selfref=true}}

An '''application programming interface''' ('''API''') is a connection or fetching, in technical terms, between [[computer]]s or between [[computer program]]s. It is a type of software [[Interface (computing)|interface]], offering a service to other pieces of [[software]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Reddy |first=Martin |author-link= |date=2011 |title=API Design for C++ |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IY29LylT85wC |publisher=Elsevier Science |page=1 |isbn=9780123850041}}</ref> A document or standard that describes how to build such a connection or interface is called an ''API specification''. A computer system that meets this standard is said to ''implement'' or ''expose'' an API. The term API may refer either to the specification or to the implementation.

In contrast to a [[user interface]], which connects a computer to a person, an application programming interface connects computers or pieces of software to each other. It is not intended to be used directly by a person (the [[end user]]) other than a [[computer programmer]]<ref name=":0" /> who is incorporating it into software. An API is often made up of different parts which act as tools or services that are available to the programmer. A program or a programmer that uses one of these parts is said to ''call'' that portion of the API. The calls that make up the API are also known as [[subroutine]]s, methods, requests, or [[communication endpoint|endpoint]]s. An API specification ''defines'' these calls, meaning that it explains how to use or implement them.

Line 76:

}}

</ref>

===Operating systems===

Line 196 ⟶ 197:

Client code may contain innovative or opportunistic usages that were not intended by the API designers. In other words, for a library with a significant user base, when an element becomes part of the public API, it may be used in diverse ways.<ref name="MendezBaudry2013">{{Cite conference |last1=Mendez |first1=Diego |conference=2013 IEEE 13th International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM) |last2=Baudry |first2=Benoit |last3=Monperrus |first3=Martin |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4673-5739-5 |pages=43–52 |title=Empirical evidence of large-scale diversity in API usage of object-oriented software |arxiv=1307.4062 |doi=10.1109/SCAM.2013.6648183 |s2cid=6890739 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00844753/document}}</ref>

On February 19, 2020, [[Akamai Technologies|Akamai]] published their annual “State of the Internet” report, showcasing the growing trend of cybercriminals targeting public API platforms at financial services worldwide. From December 2017 through November 2019, Akamai witnessed 85.42 billion credential violation attacks. About 20%, or 16.55 billion, were against hostnames defined as API endpoints. Of these, 473.5 million have targeted financial services sector organizations.<ref name="VentureBeat">{{Cite web |url=https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/19/akamai-cybercriminals-are-attacking-apis-at-financial-services-firms/ |title=Akamai: Cybercriminals are attacking APIs at financial services firms |last=Takanashi |first=Dean |date=19 February 2020 |website=Venture Beat |access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref>

==Improving Performance==

===Horizontal Scaling===

- Load balancing - Distribute incoming requests across multiple server instances using load balancers

- Stateless design - Ensure your API doesn't store any state on local servers so that it could be scaled up easily

- Auto-scaling - adjusts the number of computing resources to match the current workload demand

- Microservices architecture - Break monolithic APIs into smaller, independent services that can be scaled individually based on demand patterns

==Documentation==