{"id":8600,"date":"2022-09-01T14:13:32","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T12:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/actonic.de\/was-eine-rest-api-mit-pizza-zu-tun-hat\/"},"modified":"2023-03-22T14:54:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T13:54:36","slug":"what-rest-api-has-to-do-with-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/actonic.de\/en\/what-rest-api-has-to-do-with-pizza\/","title":{"rendered":"What a REST API has to do with pizza"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What is an API?<\/h2>\n

API is an abbreviation for API is an abbreviation for Application Programming Interface.<\/strong><\/em> In other words: programming interface. The term is clear, but what is behind it? In other words: programming interface. The term is clear, but what lies behind it?<\/p>\n

It is best to consider an API to be an intermediary between the end users and the requested resources\/web services. Programming interfaces are used for standardized exchange of information between applications and individual program parts, completely independent of their implementation. <\/strong>APIs mediate your requests to the server and tell you what the server’s response was using a language you can understand. They are specifications of possible interactions with software components.<\/p>\n

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Excursus: HTTP and how does the Internet work?<\/h2>\n

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To understand APIs holistically, it is worthwhile to dig a little further: on the Internet. The Internet consists of many individual networks (servers). <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Data is stored in them. In order for this data to reach you and your browser, a special protocol called HTTP is used. This stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. <\/strong><\/em>HTTP specifies the structure of requests and responses and defines a standard for transferring content.<\/p>\n

APIs use HTTP to send a request to the server, after which the server delivers the response.<\/p>\n

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API simply explained with pizza<\/h2>\n

You are hungry and decide to go to a restaurant. An attentive waiter comes to your seat and takes your order: “Pizza Margherita.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Do you have it vegan?”<\/p>\n

Unless you are dining in a vegan restaurant, the answer to this question is quite open. You’re not interested in the details of whether there was vegan cheese substitute yesterday or whether there will be again in two weeks. You are interested in a real-time answer to your acute request.<\/p>\n

The waiter communicates with the kitchen staff, comes back and tells you that you will get your vegan pizza. A little later, he serves you your vegan pizza.<\/p>\n

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This service is in a way what an API does: it delivers exactly what you want, to the extent that the kitchen (the underlying system) can provide it. <\/strong>Moreover, you don’t need to know all the details of the caching exactly, i.e., how the resources are retrieved or from where (in our case: the full circumstances of how the vegan cheese is stocked, produced, etc. Yes or no is enough of an answer).<\/p>\n

And the language <\/strong>in which the order is placed, accepted and delivered is HTTP in this case.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Examples of APIs<\/h2>\n