With the 21st century now firmly into its second decade, the digitization of more and more services is becoming the most sought after activity for organizations. This means that the demand for website developers/web developers is only going to rise as the time progresses. This brings to mind that the spinal cord of any website is its Application Programming Interface (API) and to make a website that works, it is important to understand the role of APIs in web development. The key to understanding that lies in understanding APIs themselves.
What are APIs?
The technical definition of an API is “a messenger that takes our requests to a system and returns a response back to us via seamless connectivity”(GeeksforGeeks). To break that into simple terms, API is like a waiter at a restaurant. Just like a waiter takes our order and brings us back the order in some time, an API too takes a piece of information from us and gives us back the appropriate result that we are looking for. Here the API can be thought of as the waiter and the website as the restaurant. The API knows what is stored where on the website or some other website. The API can look at the most appropriate match to our query and return the best result.
Is connecting an API important?
Yes. An API on a website needs to be connected to a database that it can access to generate results. In a simple design an API is normally connected to the different parts of a web page and other web pages of the entire website. More complex designs can have an API connected to another website to retrieve the required data. A website design that does not incorporate an API correctly can make an organisation look unprofessional and ill-equipped to accomplish a certain task, affecting the bottom line directly in the form of loss of potential revenue.
Benefits of cross connecting APIs
Cross connecting APIs of multiple websites can make the process of data retrieval faster. Along with that, well connected APIs can generate more accurate and correct results. Connected APIs also eliminate the need of developing a website from the scratch as the new website’s API can utilise the existing resources.
Conclusion
The role of an API in web development then is indispensable. A website without a well-designed API is like a restaurant with waiters who either don’t have the access to the kitchen to convey the orders or they don’t know where the kitchen is.
Web developers who have great knowledge of API can create websites that run seamlessly. Seamless websites attract more online traffic and make a business more accessible while on the go, boosting revenue.
We at Bonwic have the best API experts creating websites that not only resonate with your organisation but also correctly present the things that potential clients might be looking for. Get in touch now to start developing the website of your dreams.