What is an API ?

Diwakar Verma - Oct 27 - - Dev Community

APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, act as the bridge that allows two software applications to communicate with each other. Think of an API as a messenger that takes requests, delivers them to the source (like a server or a service), and then brings back the response to the requester.

In simpler terms, APIs allow different apps, services, or systems to share data and functionalities with each other.For instance, I could use the OpenWeatherMap API to get weather updates. Instead of manually entering the temperature for each state, I could write a few lines of JavaScript that request weather information from the API. The API would send back the current weather data (like temperature, humidity, etc.) for the location I asked for.
I came across this Concept while i was working on a weather app project.

Using an API in your projects offers several benefits:
1.API's allows you to access data from the external sources (as i'll be doing it for weather app and many more).
2.Saves time and effort : We don't need to make projects from the scratch . We can simply use pre build functionalities which saves our time and effort.
3.APIs provide up-to-date information, ensuring that the data your application displays is always current
4.APIs are built by experts in their respective fields, and they are usually reliable and highly scalable. This means that you can trust these APIs to handle large amounts of traffic and data without affecting the performance of your project.

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