API, or application programming interface, is a concept in software technology that essentially refers to how multiple applications can interact with and obtain data from one another. Besides, APIs operate on an agreement of inputs and outputs.
To use an analogy here, we’ll compare this to ordering a coffee at your local Cafe.
When you step up to the counter, you see a menu with several drinks listed. To look at this like an API, consider that the menu existing convention you can follow to state your order and obtain a drink. In this example the menu as it’s presented to you is the interface, remember the “I” in api stands for interface. All the drinks listed on the menu are what the barista has agreed to serve.
When you ask for a certain drink on the menu, like a Nitro Cold Brew, you receive it. But if you try to ask for something off the menu, such as a Cheeseburger instead of a Nitro Cold Brew, the barista can’t provide it because it’s not something they agreed to serve, (i.e. its not on the menu).
Similarly, let’s say you want that Nitro Cold Brew delivered to your home.
You call a delivery service and you order a Nitro Cold Brew that appears on the menu. When you order it, someone will tell the barista your order, the barista will prepare the Nitro Cold Brew and then someone will deliver it to your home. This is an example of an additional service (delivery) built on an “API” (the menu).
To relate this back to software, an API can help one application retrieve specific types of data from another. If the API doesn’t support certain types of data, it won’t be able to facilitate the retrieval of that “off-menu” data.
We have built PASconcept to have a robust API that can integrate with a wealth of online and offline programs, the latest of which includes QuickBooks.