AI engineering glossary · Web APIs HTTP
What is API?
API (also called Application Programming Interface): An application programming interface is a defined way for one piece of software to ask another to do something, without knowing how the other works inside. It lists the available operations, the inputs each needs and the outputs returned. Web APIs let your code use services such as payments, maps or language models.
API: an example
A Python script calls a weather service with a city name and gets back the temperature as data.
Related terms
More Web APIs HTTP terms
- API gateway
- API key
- API pagination
- API versioning
- Authentication
- Authorization
- Authorization code flow
- Basic authentication
Where you learn it
API is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.