API-Application Programming
Interface
API’s
• An Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of commands,
functions and protocols which programmers can use when building a
software.
• It allows the programmers to use predefined functions to interact with
systems, instead of writing them from scratch.
• Characteristics of good API
– Easy to learn and use, Hard to misuse.
– Easy to read and maintain code that uses it.
– Is programming language neutral.
– Sufficiently powerful to support all computational requirements.
IndoWordNet Database Design 2
Implementation of API’s is done in:
JAVA
Php
What is an IoT API?
The application program (or programming) interface, or
API, is what ties together the connected “things” of the
“internet of things.” IoT APIs are the points of interaction
between an IoT device and the internet and/or other
elements within the network.
All the big giant tech firms such as Google, Microsoft,
Facebook and twitter all have their own APIs for
developers to integrate their projects into one another
with ease.
In the simplest terms, APIs are a set of requirements that
determine exactly how applications can talk to each other.
APIs have been around for many years; whenever you use
your everyday computer or smartphone, APIs make it
possible to transfer information between programs such as
copying and pasting from one application to another, which is
done using a system-level API in the OS.
On the web, APIs allow big everyday services such as Google
maps, Facebook or twitter to integrate with other
applications features.
Take a moment and think about the way TripAdvisor works,
by displaying local hotels, restaurants and attractions on a
google map using its own web data, or mobile games that
allow users to invite their friends through Facebook or
Google+.
Mashing up APIs
APIs make it possible for developers to create a mashup of
different web services to enhance the overall end user
experience.
When you do a search for restaurants or hotels in a
particular city using Trip Advisor, for instance, it will plot
its location on Google maps instead of creating its own
mapping feature, via the Google Maps API.
Trip Advisor application passes the information it wants
plotted (restaurant’s, star rating etc.) on the map and
combines it with an internal Google Maps function that
then returns a Map object to display within the
application.
You probably see APIs like this more frequently, even if
you decide to share this article with your friends, you will
do this using APIs by that particular service.
Web scraping
Web scraping, web harvesting, or web data
extraction is data scraping used for extracting data
from websites.[1] Web scraping software may access
the World Wide Web directly using the
Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or through a web
browser.
While web scraping can be done manually by a
software user, the term typically refers to
automated processes implemented using a bot or
web crawler.
It is a form of copying, in which specific data is
gathered and copied from the web, typically into a
central local database or spreadsheet, for later
retrieval or analysis.