What is an API? (Application Programming Interface)
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2017-05-06
·
983 words · ~4 min read
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have you ever shopped at a place that promised lower prices by cutting out the
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middleman although this might make things easier in the real world by not
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having to deal with a Cheesy storefront and high pressure salesman who's
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desperate for a commission the middleman or lady is actually very important in
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computer land you see the software that you use can be thought of as a club
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sandwich like stack of different programs some of which sit between
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whatever program you're inter acting with directly and the hardware itself
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because without these layers programmers
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and developers would have to code differently for every single Hardware
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configuration on the planet which would be
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impossible other layers sit between two
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different pieces of other software and help them talk to each other without
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needing to have tons of code in common
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these software layers help standardize the coding process so that programs can
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interface with lots of different stuff easily and while you might be most
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familiar with a layer called a device driver which we've actually discussed
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before and that translates program instructions and talks directly to your
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Hardware another layer called an application programming interface or API
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can be just as important but if a driver
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is already there then to serve as the link between your hardware and programs
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then what does the API actually do we'll think of it like this Windows macOS and
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Linux all provide a graphical interface
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your buttons checkboxes menus Etc that
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are easy to click on without that you'd
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be left tediously typing commands for everything you want to do like back in
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the days when Doss ruled the world or if you're a bash fan then yesterday
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similarly an API provides a simpler way
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for developers to interact with other kinds of software a really good example
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of this is social media plugins that you see on certain websites such as a news
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article that embeds tweets or a page that For Better or For Worse lets people
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leave Facebook comments under it both Twitter and Facebook have their own apis
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that they make available to web developers making it easy for them to
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bake Twitter and Facebook features into their own Pages without these apis these
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social media Giants would have to share code directly with owners of other sites
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which would be tedious difficult and possibly give away certain Trade Secrets
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but if you're a PC Gamer you might be even more familiar with Graphics apis
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such as DirectX openg and Vulcan which
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sit between the engine of whatever game you're playing and your graphics card
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driver these apis make it easier for game developers to code cool effects
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that bring your favorite characters and stories to life and to have them work
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regardless of whether you have an AMD or an NVIDIA GPU since the API can talk to
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any mainstream graphics card and as GPU
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technology advances you'll see new revisions of Graphics apis being rolled
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out that can take advantage of more powerful Graphics chips you can actually
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learn more about direct X12 and Vulcan
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as well as how game engines work in these episodes but even if you don't
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game or argue with random trolls in Facebook comments you're still taking
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advantage of apis all the time if you're a Windows user Windows has its own API
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uninspirational named the Windows API
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commonly referred to as win32 or win64
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depending on whether you're running a 32 or a 64-bit application Windows API
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makes it easier for programs to do things like talk to your devices modify
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your registry use screen elements like buttons and Status bars and much more
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without making the developer code these things directly and also helping users
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by providing a more reliable and consistent experience I mean can you
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imagine if every single program on your computer had a different looking close
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button in the corner so while apis might
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not be the usual star of the show when you're doing whatever it is you do on
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your PC or phone they make it possible for all of our disperate devices and
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software to work well with each other and Ena the massive amount of quick
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communication and high-end gaming that we've gotten used to I mean really
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haven't you always been a little curious as to how the sausage is made but if
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tequ which we're going to have linked below so thanks for watching guys if you
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like the video like it if if you dislike it dislike it if you want to check out our channels boom if you want to leave a
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comment with video suggestions boom and if you want to subscribe and follow then cool beans does anyone say cool beans
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anymore I picked it up from for Better or For Worse which was like already kind
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of a wellestablished comic by the time I was old enough to be reading comics