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## [[Web browser]] like [[Mozilla]] or [[Internet Explorer]] can present it.
Obviously, the first option requires more steps, each of them much more complicated than the steps in the subsequent options. In addition, it is impractical to use the first approach to present a substantial amount of information, like an encyclopedia article, on the screen, whereas the second approach makes the task easier by an order, and the third approach would basically just require you to type "Hello World". However, higher-level APIs often lose flexibility; for example, a it would be much more difficult in a [[Web browser]] to rotate text around a point with blinking outlines, something that could be done easily at the lower levels. This difference is a typical example of the trade-offs encountered by choosing to use an API.
APIs are as essential to computers as electrical standards are to the home. One can plug his toaster into the wall whether he is at home or at a neighbour's house, because both houses conform to the standard API for an electrical socket. If there wasn't an API standard, one would have to bring a power station along in order to make toast! Note that there is nothing stopping somebody else coming up with another standard; a European toaster will not work in the US without a transformer, just as a program written for [[Microsoft Windows]] will not work directly on a [[Unix|UNIX system]] without an intermediate API adapter.
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