AI engineering glossary · Computing foundations
What is API (application programming interface)?
Application programming interface (also called API): A defined set of rules and functions that lets one piece of software request services or data from another without knowing how it works inside. It is the contract that makes software components reusable and combinable.
Application programming interface: an example
A weather service offers an API so your app can request tomorrow's forecast for a city and receive structured data.
Related terms
More Computing foundations terms
- ARM architecture
- ASCII
- Asynchronous programming
- Bandwidth
- Base64
- Big data units
- Binary file
- Binary number system
Where you learn it
Application programming interface is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.