Understanding APIs
An API allows data formats to be shared between different systems or devices. APIs simply allow an application to send and retrieve data from another system. APIs are used almost everywhere, from cloud services such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon's AWS to social media platforms such as Facebook.
To understand how APIs operate, let's imagine you visit your favorite restaurant to have a dine-in dinner with your family or significant other. At the restaurant, you are given a menu so that you can choose your meal before it's prepared in the kitchen. As a customer, you won't be allowed to visit the kitchen to retrieve your meal when it's ready – a waiter or waitress is assigned this role. When you (the user) are ready to place your order, the request is made via the waiter/waitress (API), which is known as an API call. The waiter/waitress then goes to the kitchen with your order (the request). When the food (data) is ready, the waiter...
