Anatomy of an API

In today’s connected world APIs are part and parcel of our lives. We are constantly invoking APIs, simple activities like posting a status on Facebook or Instagram, sending a text message via WhatsApp, uploading a file to your Google Drive and more involve making a call to an API of some software program running on computing machine located somewhere in the world. APIs have become main street commodity. APIs are everywhere!

I once asked an interview candidate, ‘What is an API?’ to which the candidate’s instant response was — ‘It’s a contract!!’. This is the most succinct definition of an API or an…