Twitter recently announced they will no longer support free access to the Twitter API. Everyone seems up in arms about it and I can’t figure out what an API even is. What would doing something like this actually affect?
I’ve tried looking up what an API is, but I can’t really wrap my head around it.
Edit: I’ve had so many responses to read through and there’s been a ton of helpful explanations! Much appreciated everyone 🙂 thanks for keeping this doofus in the know
In: 419
say you go to a restaurant for a meal and are handed a menu.
you find something you want but have no knowledge or skill to make it on your own. also, you don’t work there. you don’t know how to send the order to the kitchen or make the food, so you tell the waiter what you want
the waiter knows what you want but isn’t a cook. the waiter doesn’t know how to make it, so they use the system that sends the order to the kitchen.
the system sends the order to the kitchen, the cook reads it, and makes what you want
in this analogy, you’re the user, the waiter is your application, the ordering system between the waiter and the kitchen is the API, and the cook is the program that actually controls things
as an example, take a pair of earbuds that have touch control. your earbuds may be made by sony, samsung, anker, seinnheiser, or any other manufacturer, none of whom need the actual programming to raise or lower the volume, pause music, or skip to the next track. all they need is to know the system provided by your phone’s music application to order those actions. that system is an API
in the analogy, the benefit of the API is that any person with serving experience can walk in off the street and work at a restaurant with entrees they’ve never made. all they need is a little training on the system for ordering them
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