A Look at Application Programming Interfaces
Before the advent of application programming interfaces (APIs), developers (and integrators) could not gain access directly to the inner-workings of an existing application. They had to find ways to work around this limitation. This made the reuse of services, data, and business methods between applications more complicated. Once companies began to provide access to their applications through functions that would allow other developers to leverage and reuse systems already in place, integration between applications became relatively easier. This discussion asks you to look as a company's development of an API for its product or service and assess its usefulness to those wishing to leverage the data or methods within.
Research a company who provides an API for a product or service. Briefly describe the company's product and one of its APIs, then comment on the following:
- What does the API enable programmers/users to access? How much of the service is accessible? Why might there be a limit to what is accessible?
- Why might it be in this company's best interest to provide APIs for their products?
- Why would an API into this product or service be beneficial to customers and third party software developers or programmers?
- What might be the drawbacks? Why?
Be sure to defend and support your opinion and remember to properly cite your sources according to APA guidelines.