Walk me through the concept please!!

Hey guys… I read about the API and the REST principle thingie but the concept of API itself is still kinda foggy to me, can anyone simplify it for me (**tell me what it is in real English ** :P) what is exactly an API and where do we see it in real life while for instance surfing the internet?? Thanx in advance.

Answer 5203f014f10c60bfac001049

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An API (Application Programming Interface) that provides a way for you to communicate with another service/program. For example: An android app needs to get your twitter feed from twitter then it makes an API request to the twitter servers asking for your specific account’s twitter feed, the server will send you a response of your request first (1xx - 2xx OK, 3xx ok but wait, 4xx not found and 5xx server error) the data(in json format normally). So it provides and “interface” for communication between services/programs. REST is a simple way (an web architecture to be specific) of sending and receiving data between client and server and it doesn’t have very many standards defined. You can send and receive data as JSON, XML or even plain text. It’s lightweight compared to SOAP.

Hope you understood, if there is any other question then feel free to ask.

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