Sunday, February 12, 2012

A Brief Look Into Cloud Servers And An Analysis On The Question What Is An API

By El Greco


The tools, procedures and protocols used in the development of soft wares are generally referred to as application programming interfaces or in brief, APIs. With reliable application programming interfaces, soft wares are developed quite simpler and faster. This is due to the availability of building blocks. The only task that programmers have is the combination of these building blocks. Application programming interfaces have a big part to play in cloud computing. What this basically means is that without these interfaces, it would not be possible to embark on cloud hosting.

There are three types of APIs. They include APIs for application functionality, control APIs and data APIs. The routes taken by data while flowing to and from the cloud server uk are referred to as data APIs. Control APIs give room for changes in the infrastructure of the cloud.

They also allow removal and reconfiguration of the cloud. Changes made can be manual or programmatic but are based on external factors, outages or traffic. Application functionality APIs give end users the liberty to interact with the components present. Interaction can be through wikis, shopping carts or widgets.

A large number of operating systems provide programmers with an API so that they can develop soft wares that are compatible with the operating system. Although application programming interfaces are designed for use by programmers, they are generally convenient for all users. This is so because they provide similar interfaces for programs that use a common API. This makes the learning process easier for new users.

There are those APIs which depend on the selected language and those which do not depend on a particular language. The characteristics and syntax of the selected language determines the degree to which an API that is language dependent is available. This helps in determining how convenient the language is to users. On a different note, an API that is language dependent has to be called from the available programming languages.

This feature is particularly desirable for service oriented APIs which are not bound to specific systems or processes. Their provision may also be based on internet services or remote routine calls. For instance, websites which allow users to make reviews on local hotels and restaurants have the ability to base their reviews through the use of online maps. This is because online maps have APIs which facilitate these processes. They control information used by third parties.

An application programming interface can also be used to implement a protocol. There is a big difference between an application programming interface and a protocol. While a protocol provides a means of response exchange that is standardized and a common based means of transport, an API uses a direct library in its implementation. When a protocol gets implemented by an API, it uses a proxy as its base in case of a remote invocation.

In this case, information transfer is not physical. The interface basically makes use of function calls which only go as far as the boundaries set by the operating system. This way, data transfer is simplified. This in mind, one is definitely sure to understand why an API is a good way of implementing cloud hosting.




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