What is an API? Reading Assignment

Blockchain Business Course
#242

1) What is an API?
API stands for Application Programming Interface and is a specivication of possible interactions with a software component.

2) In the article the author compares Java API to Twitter API. What is the main difference between these two APIs?
Java API is a pre-made set of rules to make the life of developers easier and can be implemented in different interfaces to improve the productivity.

The twitter API is a web based API that can only be used for twitter purposes and allows developers to programmatically interact with twitter.

3) The section in the article about abstraction is important, try to understand it and write down an abstraction from your daily life.
An abstraction is a way to handle complexity of a system in a simple way.
In real life I would like to compare it with making a pizza. I do not make the complex bottom from scratch, I simply buy the pre-made dough, so I only need to take care of the tomato sauce, peperoni and cheese.
Which are abstractions themselves if you think about it, so just like in IT, abstraction on abstraction to make life easier and don make everything from scratch.

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#243

  1. An API is defined as a specification of possible interaction with a software component.

  2. Java API is included in the Java Development Kit, while the Twitter API is web based.

  3. When I tell Alexa to turn on the lights I don’t have to think about how it happens.

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#244
  1. An API is a way to interact with a separate software component or resources using a programming language
  2. Java API is a software component based can be found in Java Development Kit, while Twitter API is a web based interaction, using JSON
  3. abstraction of a cup of coffee; when we hit the button of the espresso machine, what we actually do is combining water from our pump and the roasted coffee seeds from farmers plantation that has been nourished the coffee plants for 4 month earlier, the coffee fruit got cleaned and separated the green seeds from the rest of the cherry part, after farmers drying it for two week, then it shipped to the roastery to be cooked in a certain way to released the potential character of the smells and it taste heaven after brewed in the espresso machine. To have a it perfectly, we must grind the amount of roasted coffee seed as the specification of the machine, place your cup in the exit way of the brewed coffee, and take a sip, and a sip, and a sip, and so on, make sure the glass is empty before u dish the glass afterward. enjoy
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#245

  1. API stands for Application Programming Interface. Basically it is a development tool that lists all of the things a programmer can do (the rules) and how they can do them.

  2. The differences between the Java and Twitter API’s are that the Twitter API is a web based public JSON API, while Java is only available to those who have installed the Java Development Kit. Java is also a less consistent API than Twitters’ API, since it provides multiple ways to perform the same action.

  3. Venmo, Cash App, and other money sending apps are an abstraction. Before they existed I either had to physically send a check, cash, or do a time lengthy wire transfer in order to exchange value.

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#246

  1. API (Application Programming Interface) is a way to programmatically interact with a separate software component.

  2. The Java API is a library of software components available “out of the box” to anyone who has installed the Java Development Kit. These components implement common tasks and programmers don’t have to start from scratch every time. Unlike the Java API, Twitter API is a web-based JSON API that allows developers to programmatically interact with Twitter data.

  3. Abstraction is just a way of organizing the complexity of a system in a simple way for the final user. For instance, I usually like to order basic things that I could potentially find in the store on Amazon. I do this because everything comes the same day or the latest the next day in front of my door. It is very convenient for me but behind the scenes I know everything is organized according to some database where all my information are recorded. The product that I ordered must be found on stock near me and package it up. Finally, the package must be send efficiently through several mode of transportation.

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#247

1 API - Application Programming Interface - Is a set of rules and protocols that are pre-built to allow communication of certain data between them.

  1. Main Difference between JAVA API and Twitter API is that Twitter API is an internet/web based API while JAVA API is more of a framework API

  2. Abstraction is just a way of organizing the complexity of a system so that complicated actions can be handled in a simple way…

So, when I turn on the Stove-Top, I SIMPLY turn a knob. - SIMPLE

That simple action does a number of COMPLEX things (I dont need to know about to enable me to use it) - Including: Allows gas to enter the burner, lights the gas entering the burner (creating a flame) regulates the flame to the strength relevant to how far I turned the knob, feeds back to the meter how much gas is being used. . .

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#248
  1. An API is a layer that simplifies the users experience by determining that when ‘x’ is performed, this will trigger a chain of commands to be performed. i.e. x = a(d + c) / b
  2. The Java API is a preset list of commands, which tell you exactly what you can do. The Twitter API is JSON based and you submit a request and get a return.
  3. An example of an API would be a Nespresso machine, or a subscription service, or ‘B’ on an xbox controller, or your alarm on your smartphone. Using the alarm on your smartphone as the example: you are effectively building an API to make waking up everyday a seemless task, you assign a time that you wish to wake up, you assign the days of the week that you would like to wake up at said time, you determine which sound most appeals to you, you decide how many times you can snooze and what increments of time you would like these snooze repeats to take place.
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#249
  1. Application programming interface. it has several advantages: we don’t have to know the complexity behind another system to access is, we can access other systems and reuse whole components
  2. java api comes out of the box and can also be accessed locally; twitter api is webbased, that means i can only accessed via internet-requests (via the http protocol) and is not redundantely available
    3)if i give my shirts and trousers to a cleaning service - i, as a man :grin: - do not need to know, how it is done, which washing powder was used and which cleaning program of the machine. also i don’t have to knwo, how the service person ironed my shirt … i just order the service and get cleaned and ironed clock back
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#250

  1. Application programming interface; It‘s a specified way to interact with a software

  2. The Java API is included in the Java Development Kit and the Twitter API is web-based

  3. Using google maps to find the fastest route —> I just have to type in the address and click a button and the app does the rest.

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#251
  1. What is an API? It´s a bridge that connects the two sides of a system ( frontend and backend) and that makes sure that any request for information originated by the user ( front end) is processed by the server at the backend and sent back.
  2. In the article the author compares Java API to Twitter API. What is the main difference between these two APIs? Java API is a predetermined code included in the Java Development Kit.
    Twitter API returns data to the client, by making requests to the Twitter server.
  3. The section in the article about abstraction is important, try to understand it and write down an abstraction from your daily life. I work in real estate. When answering enquiries from clients, I have created many differrent standard email replies depending on what they´re asking. Then I just have to copy/ paste and add the property details and or conditions etc, sometimes for very popular properties I create a standard reply for just that particular property. This saves me writing long replies every time.
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#252
  1. What is an API?
    Application Programming Interface - A simplified way of requesting structured data from a source, or a pre-designed tool set, generally used in Rapid Application Development.
  2. In the article the author compares Java API to Twitter API. What is the main difference between these two APIs?
    Java API is a developer API used to skip “reinventing the wheel”; Twitter API is a structured data API used for interacting with (requesting data from) an outside source (typically a server)
  3. The section in the article about abstraction is important, try to understand it and write down an abstraction from your daily life.
    Answering the front door - No matter where you move to, or where you live, or where the door is located, or if it opens to the left or to the right, all doors follow the same basic methodology to open and close.
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#253

  1. An API is an application programming interface. It is a bridge between two different applications or data sets.

  2. Java is a set of pre-made tools that allows developers to, for instance, make lists of data to deliver to or from a sever. As it is a pre-made library this makes it easier for developers to carry out often used tasks. Twitter API enables users to interact over the internet with the Twitter database.

  3. When I use Googlepay to buy groceries. All I have to do is to hold my phone near a terminal, I don’t have to ckeck my balance, count out the correct amount of money, hand the cashier the money or receive change.

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#254

  1. An API or application programming interface is is a way to programmatically interact with a separate software component or resource.

  2. The main difference between the Java API and Twitter API according to this article is how both APIs are accessed. The Java API is accessed locally via installing the Java Development Kit. This kit gives access to a library of software components that implement common tasks and generally increase productivity for programmers because they do not have to “reinvent the wheel” by starting from nothing.

    The Twitter API is a web-based API accessed by making requests over the Internet to services that Twitter hosts. With a web-based API, an application sends an HTTP request, like a web browser. Instead of the response being delivered as a webpage, for human understanding, it’s returned in a format that applications can easily parse. Twitter uses a parsing format called JSON.

  3. Abstraction is simply the way programmers hide all but the relevant data about an object in order to reduce complexity and increase efficiency. As users we take for granted how complex something as simple as a submit or share button is on an application. All of the hard work has been done “behind the scenes” for the user so that they can have a seamless/frictionless experience.

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#255

Glenn_CostaRica

1. What is an API?
The acronym “API” stands for the name “Application Programming Interfaces”. An API is, basically, a set of code or data that makes it possible for some programs created with some logic in a given language, to interact with a specific system coded in a particular language (that can be different from the language used by those programs that want to interact with it). Formally speaking, the API is defined as “a specification of possible interactions with a software component”.

This means an API represents an extra abstraction layer on top of a specific system, that determines how any other system can interact with it. Two systems that interact can be the software that captures an event inside a IoT device and a function in a program in a backend, for example. A typical example can be a system in a server that interacts with a frontend system, or even two different server-side systems.

2. In the article the author compares Java API to Twitter API. What is the main difference between these two APIs?
The Java API is a library of software components. On the other hand, the Twitter API is a web-based JSON API. In the case of the Java API, it determines a series of possibilities of operations and programming of the Java language through internal objects and data structures. In the case of the Twitter API, what is determined is the architecture of the requests and responses that can exist between the server and the client in Twitter.

Thus, in Java, components are made available through the API that implements very useful common resources such as the data structure called “List”. This structure determines a specification that includes possible interactions such as adding elements, ordering the list, or determining if an element is in the list, among other interactions.

On the other hand, if you compare it, the Twitter API is a very different component, since it is, in itself, a web interface. It is used through HTTP web requests. The API imposes how these requests should be and how the response for a request should be structured, which will usually be in the form of a data package within a JSON type data structure.

3. The section in the article about abstraction is important, try to understand it and write down an abstraction from your daily life.
Abstraction is a technical or technological mechanism that serves to systematize the control that humans have over the complexity of a system, so that, a problem that would seem to require many complex and confusing actions, is divided into several or many layers of simple actions. For each layer, one has a specific protocol or specification on how to interact with the present layer.

Thus, for example, a task that might seem extremely complex for someone who doesn’t know Tokyo at all, such as taking the train in Tokyo, can be divided into many stages – layers – so that a person visiting Tokyo for the first time does not miss his/her train or take the wrong train. Each layer will contain a set of possible actions.

A first layer could be this: when entering Tokyo Station, first follow a series of instructions
to decide which line color you should choose. Second layer: after picking your color – your line and your train company – now you have to decide how to buy your ticket. Here you have many options; so you must respect a new set of rules to make the decision. Third layer: after buying the ticket you have to check the protocol in order to get to your platform and to get in line (it is not the same protocol as in the West and remember: if people push you and hit you, it is not exactly rude! It’s part of social etiquette in this very special circumstance. Don’t get mad and don’t fight back!)…

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#256

  1. Application Programming Interface (API) is interactions within a software components and allows communications between frontend and backends.

  2. Java API is a library of software components available to all users who has the java development toolkit installed, while Twitter API is web-based and allows developers to pro-grammatically interact with twitter data.

  3. Abstraction is a way of organizing the complexity of a system so the end user has a simple task. For example i use excel function like ‘Average’ which calculates the average of a date set, this saves me from manually calculating the average.

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#257

  1. An API is an already made code that allows you do complex things to create by code, in an easy manner so that it can be deployed more easily, and avoid developers from creating their complex code from scratch every time.

  2. The difference between the Java API and Twitter API is that with the Twitter API it is web based so you need to request twitter’s servers for the information, whereas with Java API it is done locally.

  3. Example of abstraction in daily life: at the fuel station, the numbers shown on the screen. It is the resultat of a machine mesuring the amount of fuel that goes out, showing that number on one part of the screen, and multiplying by the current rate to show on the second screen the total price. Then counting that as the purchase price when the fuel machine is stopped.
    It does quite a few things that we don’t understand behind the scenes, and seems easily understandable to the end user.

Other example might be buying a coffee from a coffee machine. When choosing a product the API will show the price on the screen, wait for the money to be inserted, counted, validated, then the program will indicate which process to do to the machine (pour hot water, add these ingredients…) until the customer finally gets the product from the machine. Seems simple to the end user but so many complex tasks are done in the background.

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#258

1) What is an API? Application Programming Interface – a standard to programmatically define interactactions with separate software components or resources.

2) In the article the author compares Java API to Twitter API. What is the main difference between these two APIs? The Java API is available to download for anyone who was the Javascript Developers Toolkit. The Twitter API is the web based JSON that requires a log in to access and operates via requests from clients.

3) The section in the article about abstraction is important, try to understand it and write down an abstraction from your daily life. Setting an alarm using Siri on my phone. Siri interprets my voice data into software commands. This saves me time and effort by not having to open the clock settings on my phone and setting them using the iOS interface, which in turn saves me from either programming an alarm myself, or from owning and setting an analogue alarm clock.

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#259
  1. API stands for application programming interface, a concept that applies everywhere from command-line tools to enterprise Java code to Ruby on Rails web apps. An API is a way to programmatically interact with a separate software component or resource.
  2. The main difference between the two API’s is that the twitter API requires you to get access from twitter and you can only search twitter’s data base of tweets. The Java API is a library of software components available to anyone who has installed the java development kit. the programming installs general task that developers can use and don’t have to start from strecth.
  3. i like to use amazon to order my beard products. Its set to automatically buy every 3 months. Abstraction helps this complicated task by knowing every 3 months i’ll buy this beard product so instead of me rememebering to do so it will automatically make my order, find who has it close to me if available will search until it is found update my shipping address and take my payment method. taking me out the equation of actual looking for the product the abstraction connects all the little dots.
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#260

1) What is an API?

An API is an application programming interface. This is a way to programmatically interact with a separate software component or resource.

2) In the article the author compares Java API to Twitter API. What is the main difference between these two APIs?

The main difference is that Twitter’s API is a web-based API, which must be accessed by making requests over the internet to services that twitter hosts.

The Javascript API is included in the Java Development Kit.

3) The section in the article about abstraction is important, try to understand it and write down an abstraction from your daily life.

One example would be calling an uber or streaming a song through spotify. These are actions that are performed extremely simply but have a complex series of events that need to occur behind the scenes to provide me with the end result.

Also, basically any small business provides some kind of an abstraction, where you pay them to do something that is more complex than you are able or willing to do in that moment.

Example, if I go to a restaurant, all I have to do is pay money, but behind the scenes the cook will cut the ingredients, fry the meat, season everything, put it on my plate, and a server will deliver it to my table.

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#261
  1. Application Programming Interface It hides complex coding from the developer and does the following extends systems to partners,organize code and makes components reusable. Objective of a API is to give the developer the tools to Easily create a product (Don’t have to develop from scratch) that is easy for the public to use that hides complex coding and interacts with the Backend.

2.Java API is a library of components and Twitter API is web-based more known as JSON API.

  1. When I get out of the bed to go make coffee…I walk…I walk not having to think how my brain,nerves,muscles and other complexities of my body has to work.
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