Analogies abound for explaining how APIs work, but one that is particularly compelling is the wall socket analogy. Rather than having to hardwire a new appliance to the power source, a person need only plug it in to draw electricity. That person doesn’t need to know anything about the concept of electricity or even how it’s delivery — just that the plug fits correctly into the socket.
The electricity drawn through the socket represents the information contained in a piece of software; the socket, the API enabling a request to be made and answered; the appliance, the other piece of software developed to use the requested information in a novel way. …..more