"Application Programming Interface (API)"
An Application Programming Interface (API) is the technology that facilitates the exchange of data between two or more different computer programs or applications. The API is the virtual interface between two interworking software functions, such as a word processor and a spreadsheet. The software which provides the functionality described by the API is said to be an implementation of the API. The API itself is abstract, as it is an interface.
An API is the software that is used to support system-level integration of multiple commercial-off-the-shelf software products or newly developed software into existing or new applications. APIs are also a type of middleware that provide for data sharing across different platforms.
APIs typically support the integration with various programming languages:
- C, C# C++
- COBOL
- Java
- PHP
- PERL
- Python
- Ruby
... Or programming methodologies and frameworks:
- Web Services
- SOAP
- REST
- XML