This site runs best with JavaScript enabled.

Meet the Robowaiter APIs Serving Us Data

Last tended on April 10, 2019

Wtf is an API?
An API is an applicaiton programming interface – a system that allows one programme to chat to another
Just like humans interact with a programme through a user interface, a programme interface interacts with other programmes
APIs that connect two programmes across the internet are called web APIs. They're just like tiny robowaiters bringing you data from acorss the web
Each API waiter has a menu of options that tells you want kind of data you can order. You tell the waiter what data you want and they dash off to fetch it for you
If you want to add YouTube videos to your website, you'd need to read the YouTube API docs, then add a line of code to your website that nicely asked the YouTube waiter to deliver you the video data

A Shelfish Starter Guide to Databases

Want to share?

Join the newsletter

For weekly notes on visual thinking, ethical technology, and cultural anthropology.

Maggie Appleton © 2021