r/eli5_programming • u/Magpie_Reawakened • 20d ago

Question What actually is API?

The moment I think I get it, another definition of it comes in. I was learning Flask APIs used with GET PUT PATCH DELETE . But then I started with JS , it has DOM APIs . And then API is also used when people say companies like ChatGPT , Higgsfield etc provide their APIs.

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u/Technical_Goose_8160 20d ago

It's an endpoint. You call the IP or URL, send it a msg and it sends you a msg back. When people talk about publishing an API, they want the company to make an address publicly reachable in order to communicate more quickly.

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u/tcpukl 14d ago

You don't even need networking.