![]() Today, such a catalog would be called an API (or an API specification or API documentation) because it instructs a programmer on how to use (or "call") each subroutine that the programmer needs. This cabinet also contained what Wilkes and Wheeler called a "library catalog" of notes about each subroutine and how to incorporate it into a program. The subroutines in this library were stored on punched paper tape organized in a filing cabinet. British computer scientists Maurice Wilkes and David Wheeler worked on a modular software library in the 1940s for EDSAC, an early computer. The idea of the API is much older than the term itself. This origin is still reflected in the name "application programming interface." Today, the term is broader, including also utility software and even hardware interfaces. The term API initially described an interface only for end-user-facing programs, known as application programs. History of the term Ī diagram from 1978 proposing the expansion of the idea of the API to become a general programming interface, beyond application programs alone While a graphical interface for an email client might provide a user with a button that performs all the steps for fetching and highlighting new emails, an API for file input/output might give the developer a function that copies a file from one location to another without requiring that the developer understand the file system operations occurring behind the scenes. In building applications, an API simplifies programming by abstracting the underlying implementation and only exposing objects or actions the developer needs. Recent developments in APIs have led to the rise in popularity of microservices, which are loosely coupled services accessed through public APIs. APIs originated in the 1940s, though the term did not emerge until the 1960s and 1970s.Ĭontemporary usage of the term API often refers to web APIs, which allow communication between computers that are joined by the internet. There are APIs for programming languages, software libraries, computer operating systems, and computer hardware. ![]() An API may be custom-built for a particular pair of systems, or it may be a shared standard allowing interoperability among many systems. One purpose of APIs is to hide the internal details of how a system works, exposing only those parts a programmer will find useful and keeping them consistent even if the internal details later change. An API specification defines these calls, meaning that it explains how to use or implement them. The calls that make up the API are also known as subroutines, methods, requests, or endpoints. A program or a programmer that uses one of these parts is said to call that portion of the API. An API is often made up of different parts which act as tools or services that are available to the programmer. It is not intended to be used directly by a person (the end user) other than a computer programmer who is incorporating it into the software. In contrast to a user interface, which connects a computer to a person, an application programming interface connects computers or pieces of software to each other. The term API may refer either to the specification or to the implementation. A computer system that meets this standard is said to implement or expose an API. A document or standard that describes how to build or use such a connection or interface is called an API specification. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. LotsOfWords knows 480,000 words.Screenshot of web API documentation written by NASAĪn application programming interface ( API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. National Scrabble Association, and the Collins Scrabble Words used in the UK (about 180,000 words each). The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) from Merriam-Webster, the Official Tournament and Club Word List (OTCWL / OWL / TWL) from the Please note: the Wiktionary contains many more words - in particular proper nouns and inflected forms: plurals of nouns and past tense of verbs - than other English language dictionaries such as ![]() Words and their definitions are from the free English dictionary Wiktionary published under the free licenceĬreative Commons attribution share-alike. Potential litterature) such as lipograms, pangrams, anagrams, univocalics, uniconsonantics etc. To play Scrabble, Words With Friends, hangman, the longest word, and forĬreative writing: rhymes search for poetry, and words that satisfy constraints from the Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle (OuLiPo: workshop of You can use it for many word games: to create or to solve crosswords, arrowords (crosswords with arrows), word puzzles, Lots of Words is a word search engine to search words that match constraints (containing or not containing certain letters, starting or ending letters,
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