Thanks for answering. My understanding is as under:
API is an interface to a program/framework/SDK etc. I am a Rails developer and the framework offers an API. Using this API my app can "talk" to the framework and perform tasks. APIs over internet protocols is a different category of APIs. REST Public API will fall in this category.
This article on what is an api is also a great resource.
It is a good article, but not for knowing what an API is.
"Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are ways for computer systems to ‘talk’ to each other over internet protocols (HTTP, SMTP)"
Thanks for answering. My understanding is as under:
API is an interface to a program/framework/SDK etc. I am a Rails developer and the framework offers an API. Using this API my app can "talk" to the framework and perform tasks. APIs over internet protocols is a different category of APIs. REST Public API will fall in this category.
Agreed. The intro is a bit off. :)