Application programming interface

An appliance programming interface (API) is a agreement advised to be acclimated as an interface by software apparatus to acquaint with anniversary other. An API may cover blueprint for routines, abstracts structures, article classes, and variables. An API blueprint can yield abounding forms, including an International Standard such as POSIX, bell-ringer affidavit such as the Microsoft Windows API, the libraries of a programming language, e.g. Standard Template Library in C++ or Java API. Garter predicts that by 2014 75% of Fortune 500 enterprises will accessible an API.1

An API differs from an appliance bifold interface (ABI) in that an API is antecedent cipher based while an ABI is a bifold interface. For instance POSIX is an API, while the Linux Standard Base is an ABI.2