APIs are very abstract digital things and thus are difficult to see and understand. It helps to explore some aspects of our physical world to help shape how we think about APIs.
To help bring APIs a litter closer to what we experience in the real world, lets look at a couple of analogies that help you understand the possibilities when it comes to defining digital resources as simple APIs using the web.
- Restaurant Menu - APIs have been compared to a restaurant menu, providing you with a list of what is available and a set of instructions for ordering the items you want.
- Utilities - APIs are often compared to your electricity, telephone, and plumbing systems, but their use extends to an endless mix of digital resources and capabilities that you access via digital interfaces. Every digital resource, capability, and experience you encounter through your computer and mobile phone is API-driven. APIs define the raw digital resources your business produces and depends upon. Being able to produce and consume APIs effectively enables business to get done. Your enterprise is increasingly defined by the control you have over your digital operations, and APIs define what you are capable of as an organization. Ultimately, it is up to you to define what APIs mean for your organization and the impact they will have on your industry. Possessing analogies to help us think about these very abstract concepts helps make APIs for visible, tangible, and something that anyone can approach and have a conversation about.