The Software Bridge
An Application Programming Interface (API) is a structured set of rules that allows one software application to talk to another. When you check the weather on your phone, the application communicates with an API server to fetch the latest values.
Endpoints and Payloads
APIs expose URL paths called endpoints (e.g. `/api/v1/weather`). Applications send requests containing parameters and receive responses formatted as structured data, usually JSON.
JSON Snippet
json
{
"city": "London",
"temperature": 18,
"conditions": "Cloudy"
}