What is an API?
API stands for Application Programming Interface – that sounds a little scary, but in reality, it’s really just a kind of middle-man that can be used to pick up information from one location (the provider) and deliver back to another (the consumer).
FedEx for Machines
Let’s say you have words, information, well-wishes, bills – if you’re a company, which need to get into the hands of another person.You could leave your house or office, hop in the car and drive across the country to hand-deliver the letter, birthday card or electricity bill to that person (the latter would probably be as desirable a job as tax-collector), or you could have Fedex do it for you.
Fedex is somewhat like an API in that it receives information/data from you and provides it to someone else on your behalf. All the sender and receiver need to do are conform to Fedex’s terms of service – such as using a particular label, signing off on a package etc. All kinds of applications use a similar service when they want to provide or receive information to and from various other apps. This service is called an API. As long as each application (the consumer and the provider) conform to the constraints of the API, then data can be effectively communicated between them.
The Google Maps API is a great example of this that you’re probably familiar with. Let’s say you’re perusing a restaurant review app and see that they’re using a Google Maps widget to show you the location. Rather than that application having to build its own mapping system with a multitude of locations, co-ordinates and directions, the Google Maps API can be used (like your Fedex service) to access that information and have it delivered back to the restaurant app.
The Internet of Things
Two other concepts to be aware of in this realm are the API Economy which is the overall system that is composed of the proliferation of API services that are available and the Internet of Things (IoT). The Internet of Things refers to the extension of communication between users and applications to devices like smartwatches, smartcars, and voice assistants when they take to the internet and can also be accessed through APIs. Billions of the devices are expected to appear just in the coming year.
The Universe and Everything
While doing some research on APIs, I sat back awestruck at the exponential development of this data-based universe. I could see it expanding rapidly as each new device, each new app linked and crossed paths and grew. A visualization of multitudes of ever-growing and overlapping paths and interfaces was before me.
But then I thought, is it really that surprising? I mean, the more we learn about the natural world we live in, the more we find there is to learn. A simple leaf becomes its apex, veins, and petioles, its epidermis, cuticle, and cells, and it works to leverage an intricate chemical process to survive. Upward and outward, we explore nebulae, galaxies and black holes. We can feel overwhelmed by the rate at which these tech creations multiply, connect and grow. But maybe we could also take our ability to create such worlds as a signpost, a reflection. What if, instead of letting change, creation or growth only scare us, we let it still us.
Rather than draw a stark line between ever expanding technological developments and our humanity, perhaps our increasingly complex created universes could remind us that we are in fact made in the Imago Dei. And that, by comparison, our creative advancements are mere echoes of the brimming complexity of the world around us. That way, we can be both humbled and encouraged, cautioned and in awe. We can build, create, and learn – knowing that our greatest achievements come with limitations and with an arrow pointing to something more.
Here are a couple of resources on APIs and the Internet of Things if you’d like to learn more:
What exactly is an API?
What’s an API and Why Do You Need One?
The Emerging Internet of Things
Ciara Anderson, PhD 