All common programming languages have APIs, and some have their APIs so enhanced that users can develop whole applications without great knowledge, even with even small skills as basic HTML.
Why APIs?
APIs are a way for a product or service provider company to give developers and users handy tools to develop applications on their own based on their needs. It is easy to understand how hard things would have been had there not been APIs – programmers would have to be skilled enough to build every portion of an application from scratch, at machine level. With APIs, you just call the functions or tools by name or use them as plug-ins.
Examples of APIs
You have APIs all the common programming languages, which bundle functions and properties into libraries. Some service providers offer APIs that work with their services too.
Skype is a good example. To use the Skype VoIP service, you have to download and install their application. But what if you want to have a Skype-enabled application of your own, or you want to integrate Skype calling functionality into your company’s communication application or on your company’s web site? Skype offers APIs for that, the Skype Accessories (the Skype Public API) and SkypeKit.
Another VoIP company offering API is TringMe, which allows you to use their VoIP calling service through your own built telephony applications (softphones and VoIP clients), using their development kit.
The most sophisticated API we have in the area of voice communication is Asterisk, which is an open-source (and hence free) that ‘converts an ordinary computer into a feature-rich voice communications server’. Read more on Asterisk there.
