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An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. [1] A document or standard that describes how to build such a connection or interface is called an API specification.
API description languages are sometimes called interface description languages (IDLs). The structured description might be used to generate documentation for human programmers ; such documentation may be easier to read than free-form documentation, since all documentation generated by the same tool follows the same formatting conventions.
Although this API can be called by an end user with a web browser (as in this example) it is intended to be called automatically by software or by computer programmers while writing software. JSON is intended to be parsed by a computer program, which would extract the URL of the photograph and the other metadata. The resulting photo could be ...
In contrast, an application programming interface (API) defines this access in source code, which is a relatively high-level, hardware-independent, often human-readable format. A common aspect of an ABI is the calling convention , which determines how data is provided as input to, or read as output from, computational routines.
API writers typically possess a mix of programming and language skills; many API writers have backgrounds in programming or technical writing. Computer programming background (Knowledge of C, C++, Java, PHP, or other programming languages) Knowledge of formatting standards like Doxygen, Javadoc, OpenAPI, or DITA; Knowledge of editors and tools ...
A Doclet program works with Javadoc to select which content to include in the documentation, format the presentation of the content and create the file that contains the documentation. [7] A Doclet is written in Java and uses the Doclet API, The StandardDoclet included with Javadoc generates API documentation as frame-based HTML files.
The paradigm of agreeing on an API contract first and then programming business logic afterwards, in contrast to coding the program first and then writing a retrospective description of its behavior as the contract, is called contract-first development.
API Writers are very well accomplished towards writing good user documents as they would be well aware of the software architecture and programming techniques used. See also technical writing. User documentation can be produced in a variety of online and print formats. [2] However, there are three broad ways in which user documentation can be ...