Source -hitinfrastructure.com
APIS IN EVERYDAY LIFE
If we talk about the most widely used instance of APIs, which
is the Web; back in the days, developers were designing stand-
alone websites and interactions between other sites were hard-
ly there. Hence, the information came solely from databases.
Every bit and piece of the HTML code was hand written.
Along the way, it became clear that it wasn’t enough to have
just your content on your website. API driven content widgets
became a great way to publish content onto the growing
number of blogs, review, and other sites that were popping up
across the Internet. And now, from the 863,105,652 websites
registered in 2015, it has become impossible to find a website
which doesn’t use APIs as widgets or even as the main data
source. Now the content comes from many databases & APIs.
APIs have been powering websites for almost 15 years, deliver-
ing data, content, and other digital information to the websites
we use every day like Amazon, Twitter, and Pinterest. The
average website gets its content from a variety of API driven
resources, both from the public and private sources.
But, as you might know, APIs are not limited to websites. API
are powering Mobile Apps, Buttons, Badges, and Widgets,
Spreadsheets and even physical devices. Currently, APIs are
being used to connect physical devices in our lives like thermo-
stats, smoke detectors, automobiles, clothing, glasses, and just
about every object you can imagine. A wave of new start-ups,
calling themselves Internet of Thing companies, have emerged
to build on the API movement, extending the low-cost, simple
approach to delivering resources to the physical world around
us.
Using APIs, the Internet is moving offline, and wiring up almost
every aspect of our personal, public, and professional life. Hope
this was useful in understanding what APIs are, how APIs work,
and how frequently we use them daily.
14
University of Peradeniya Gauge Magazine
Kavin Ranawella
Third Year
Department of Computer Engineering
References
1. Brian Proffitt. (2013) What APIs are
and why they’re important. [Online]
Available at: https://readwrite.com
(Accessed on 23rd July 2017)
2. Alice Atkinson-Bonasio. (2014) What’s
an API? 5 things you need to know to
stay current. [Online] Available at: https://
www.elsevier.com (Accessed on
23rd
July 2017)
3. .Margaret Rouse. (2014) Application
Program Interface (API). [Online]
Availableat: http://searchmicroservices.
techtarget.com (Accessed on 23rd July