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API & REST API: Full Explanation, Examples, How API Works

Did you know, not all features in an application are developed by the engineering team. They can use features from existing applications and focus on developing more unique features.A simple example is the map feature in an online motorcycle taxi application or a food delivery application. The map in this application is the result of integration with Google Maps.Now the system that integrates the application with Google Maps is called API (Application Programming Interface). Want to know what API is, API examples, how API works, API Protocol, and one example of the protocol, namely RESTful API? Read this article until the end!

What is API

  • API stands for Application Programming Interface is a collection of rules / codes that allow 2 or more programs to communicate. API is a bridge between systems that connects clients (programs that require data) with servers (databases).
  • In other words, API is a connector / intermediary between various applications, either on one platform or across platforms.
  • API helps developers to connect features with existing applications. This makes the developer team’s work more efficient, without having to develop features from scratch. Developers simply take data from other platforms/applications via API.

API Examples:

To better imagine how API implementation is in real cases, let’s look at some API examples below:

  • Qantas API

Qantas is an Australian airline that provides ticket booking services through their website. Qantas also provides an API containing flight ticket booking data for other platforms, so we can see departure schedules, ticket prices, and seat availability from other applications.

  • Facebook API

Have you ever used a Facebook account to log in to a platform? Facebook provides an API to integrate user accounts into other applications and web services. Facebook API is usually used as a login with Facebook feature, displaying the user’s Facebook fanpage or profile on a website or other sales platform.

  • Google Maps API

As exemplified at the beginning of the article, Google Maps provides an API containing map data that can be used by online motorcycle taxi applications and food delivery. The features in the Google Maps API provide distance calculations, route selection, and traffic conditions that make it easy for the developer team to include these features in their applications.

  • IMDb API

IMDb or Internet Movie Database is a website about movies containing details of actors, directors, scriptwriters, year and date of release, ratings, and so on. IMDb also provides an API that is used for movie reviews on movie streaming applications and movie viewing provider websites.

  • WordPress REST API

Are you one of the users of various WordPress plugins? Thousands of these plugins appear because WordPress provides an API to be connected to other applications / websites. This open source WordPress database helps developers integrate their platforms with WordPress.

How API Works:

After understanding what API is and an overview of its use through several examples above, you need to know how API works.

API enables communication between platforms through a request-response cycle.

  • Applications that require data from other services or servers (clients) send requests, which are delivered via the API protocol, and the required data is sent back from the server.
  • The client can communicate with the server, manipulate data, retrieve data on the server without damaging or changing the original data on the server. This is possible because there is a protocol that regulates it, so that the API will not change anything outside the applicable rules.

API Protocol

Now you must be asking, what is a protocol?

  • As explained in how API works, when a client makes a request, the API will come to the server with a series of calls. Now in this process there are rules that govern the use and implementation of calls.
  • A set of rules for governing the use of databases on this server is called the API Protocol. The API Protocol defines the commands received and the data types required, as well as setting certain standards for API usage.

RESTful API

There are various API Protocols that you can use such as SOAP, REST, JSON-RPC, gRPC, GraphQL, XML-RPC, Apache Thrift. This time the API Protocol that we will discuss in more depth is the REST API.

  • REST or Representational State Transfer is an architectural style and communication approach that is stateless and uses HTTP/HTTPS for data transmission. APIs that use the REST protocol are called RESTful APIs.
  • REST protocol supports data transmission in various formats such as JSON (most prominent), HTML, Python, plain text, and media files. But REST only uses HTTP/HTTPS for data transmission and cannot adapt to other protocols such as SOAP.
  • RESTful API is stateless, meaning no client data is stored on the server between GET requests. REST requests have four components, namely Endpoint, Method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE), Header, Body (data).

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