What is API: main benefits and how it works

For professionals in technology and software development, the term API is not foreign to ears. The acronym means Application Programming Interface, in translation, it means Application Programming Interface .

For those who want to understand more about what an API is, this is a set of routines and standards defined by an operating system in the use of its functionalities by other applications .

Thus, the API is a means for exchanging information between different systems , with quality, good performance and assimilation.

This tool has been widely used by developers who produce or consume technology, due to its collaboration potential in the good performance of different technological products, such as websites, applications, boots.

Data from the report released by ProgrammableWeb , point out that more than 22,000 APIs have been sold and that, since then, the number of sales has increased to 2,000 APIs each year.

Thus, in an increasingly hyperconnected market of services and products, APIs are a valuable tool to offer users and consumers greater quality. In this article, we'll talk in more detail about what this interface is and why it's important for your business. Read until the end!

What is an Integration API?

An integration API refers to a mediation interface between systems. One of them sends information and services that the other system can use, without the need for specific technical knowledge about software implementation.  

In this way, what the API does is receive the information, take it to the system responsible for processing the data and deliver what was requested , be it information or a task, depending on the purpose of use defined by the programmer or developer.

Benefits

The API does not require user intervention. It is programmed by the communication between various codes that guide specific behaviors of an object in the interface. It is a feature that is often used, for example, by online payment systems, allowing the software or application to work automatically.

It is an interface programmed by a series of autonomously . Thus, the API is used, for example, when a software company needs other developers to create products associated with its service, in the simplest way for users.

A well-known example is the Google Maps , which maintains original code and other applications and websites use it for different purposes. In this way, companies that need a geolocation tool to specify locations, routes, routes and the like, can use it in a way that is adapted to their own application.

API examples

In addition to Google Maps, we can also mention the APIs for payments , such as PagSeguro, Cielo or PayPal , which help the user to carry out different forms of financial transaction, such as sending a pix, bank transfer, recharge of value on public transport card.

The social networks themselves – twitter, facebook, instagram – make use of APIs to manage login options using passwords, registered email addresses and other information when completing registrations or advertisements. 

Financial market

In addition to the aforementioned applications that use the interface tool, most financial market products that invest in innovation for the processes they carry out, such as the Open Banking system, also work with APIs.

Open Banking , for example, works as a standardized database, with the function of communicating between different companies, allowing portability, for example, of receiving salary payments, international transactions, without all the bureaucracy of documents in the service presential.

Nubank , for example, is a digital banking service that already makes practical use of the functionality of the APIs, including proposing investments in stock exchanges, using language that is accessible to users .

Social networks

Whatsapp, which is one of the most used social networks in the world , uses APIs in order to integrate the network of contacts, sending images and other files that can be shared directly on other social networks.

The interface offers various options with Google and even instant publication in different other social networks registered by the same user, without the intervention of specific software.

E-commerce

The benefit of using APIS has also contributed to the online commerce system, both in offering products for sale and monitoring purchases made on websites and applications , such as Mercado Livre, EBay, and OLX.

Read too:

Marketplace integration: automate your business and earn more!

Location

In addition to the already mentioned Google Maps, we also remember the application transport services, Uber, for example, or GPS services, such as Waze. A geolocation API picks up signals from cell towers and WIFI. The functionality allows the offer of an online service that is functional in the routine of many people.

How do the APIs work?

You can already have a better idea of ​​the performance and functionality of the APIs by the examples mentioned above. But it is important to remember that the utility is adaptable to the need of the consumer, the user, the business and the developer.

It is possible to create different possibilities. If a developer thinks of an application in which he needs to access the cell phone's camera through the operating system, without using a specific interface, the API is capable of performing this function.

It is also important to reinforce that the APIs guarantee, above all, security in data encryption. They are able to block permissions or access to hardware data that other applications do not use.

Take the time to read:

Cyber ​​risks: what they are and how to avoid them

The SOAP and REST APIs

These two forms of interface application, more directed towards web APIs, have specific protocols in the standardization of information exchange, the second being more used than the first. 

SOAP is the acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol. They use XML as the message format and receive requests over HTTP or SMTP. In this API format, information sharing is facilitated by information running in different environments or written in different languages.

REST stands for Representational State Transfer. Another web API model that works based on the software development architecture. An API to be considered RESTful must conform to six constraints:

1. client-server architecture;
2. not be stateful;
3. caching capacity;
4. the layered system;
5. code on demand (optional);
6. uniform interface. 

In this article, we were able to better understand the functioning, use and various applications of an API, according to the needs of the developer and the user. In almost all applications that we use there is the presence of this technological tool.  

The use of APIs guarantees innovation and integration between different companies and technology solutions , mediating services and enabling the ability to exchange and volume of data between various platforms.

Did you like this content? Than continue! Find out now how to integrate your software in a simple and fast way.