Figure 7-4 Hardware API Providing Access to
Hardware in Order to Get or Set Data
API Access Types
There are typically three ways APIs can be accessed:
Private: A private API is for internal use only. This access type gives a
company the most control over its API.
Partner: A partner API is shared with specific business partners. This
can provide additional revenue streams without compromising quality.
Public: A public API is available to everyone. This allows third parties
to develop applications that interact with an API and can be a source
for innovation.Regardless of how they are accessed, APIs are designed
to interact through a network. Because the most widely
used communications network is the Internet, most APIs
are designed based on web standards. Not all remote
APIs are web APIs, but it’s fair to assume that web APIs
are remote.
Thanks to the ubiquity of HTTP on the web, most
developers have adopted it as the protocol underlying
their APIs. The greatest benefit of using HTTP is that it
reduces the learning curve for developers, which
encourages use of an API. HTTP has several features that
are useful in building a good API, which will be apparent
as we start exploring the basics in the next section.
HTTP Basics