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The digital world basically runs on connections between a wide variety of software and databases that use different languages, 通信协议, 和更多的. When those systems need to share data automatically or when they need to call on another program to perform a function, 必须有一段代码进行连接. Programmers create the code using application programming interfaces (APIs for short). These connections may be made using different protocols. 不管技术细节如何, these programs may be classified according to who can use them or what they do.

API基础知识

The term API can refer to a document specifying how to create an interface or the code that implements those instructions, though when people talk about or write about using APIs, they are usually talking about installing and running the code.

While most people refer to APIs according to who has access, they can also be described by the communication protocol they use. 这三个选项是REST、SOAP和RPC. 具象状态转移(REST) is what web apps use to share data or invoke processes in response to requests from cloud services. SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is for messaging. Remote Procedural Call (RPC) is for running processes too. All the big retailers and information services (think Google and 亚马逊) use REST protocols to serve up information in response to web surfers and shoppers.

When a human resources database needs information from a training database, 只需敲击几下键盘就可以完成传输. This is clearly much faster 和更多的 efficient than running a query against the HR database, 下载电子表格格式的结果, 然后将数据添加到训练数据库中. An API integration or two can vastly improve the user-friendliness of a website. This will help turn more prospects into customers 和更多的 one-time customers into repeat customers. 集成网络 通过API的服务 还能产生其他好处吗. 看看这四种类型的API.

1. 公共-连接任何人到应用程序

A public API is available to anyone who wants to customize software or connect it to something else. Shopping cart and storefront vendor SamCart offers a public API. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has a public API that allows web developers and app developers to pull content from their site. Microsoft and Apple both have public APIs available so that programmers can create software for Windows and macOS.

These APIs are wildly popular because they allow entrepreneurs and business owners to create software with more capabilities, 在更短的时间内. Notably, the existence of public APIs has been a boon for 移动应用开发者. If you have ever logged in to a site with your Google or LinkedIn ID and password, 这些第三方登录选项使用API运行. 然而, public APIs can have security vulnerabilities or bugs that need to be fixed..

2. 私有-内部应用程序集成

有些api仅供公司内部使用. An example would be a program that connects the company’s human resource program to a learning management system. Another example would be a building supply company that helps customers plan their projects and select supplies that the company sells. An API running on the corporate network lets a customer select materials and see prices. 关于价格和可用性的信息, along with images of the items would come from one or two applications outside the project planner app. 他们往往不那么安全, but they are also meant to mostly run behind a firewall and other enterprise-level security.

3. 合作伙伴-与第三方连接

These partner APIs are business-oriented tools that allow affiliates or strategic partners to carry out functions on a software platform like 亚马逊 或Shopify. 亚马逊’s partner API for businesses is probably the most high-profile example of this approach to application integration. Security tends to be stronger than for private apps and public apps because of the need to restrict who uses that software and what they access. These partner API programs are popular because they give a company another new way to generate business, by sharing information or offering limited access to their own applications.

4. 复合-简化多步骤流程

Some processes are just too complicated for one piece of code that connects two pieces of enterprise software. 如果一个动作, 由用户或计算机程序, 需要两个或更多进程才能运行, 一个可以组合进程的API就是答案. A shopping cart application that saves order information to a customer database and accesses a payment processor would use a 复合API. A job 搜索 website may use a 复合API to connect with applicant tracking systems. 在一般情况下, using a 复合API to handle a complex request is faster than having one API handle data and another the process that extracts the data from the source.

连接数据和功能

Application programming interfaces make it possible to create great new services and products without a ton of expensive custom coding. 然而, some challenges in the business world are well beyond the level where you simply add a piece of code to a website. In those cases, you need to find a development firm with experience using API的集成. 立即电竞赛事竞猜APP合集DevDigital.

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