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When I started learning Data analysis I learnt API as something which can retrieve small chunk of data from databases (like the twitter api). Now I see 'APIs' being mentioned in development languages like Python and Tensorflow.

What does an API mean in programming langauges and platforms?

Farooq Sk
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    [API](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API) => Application Programming Interface – gen_Eric Mar 19 '21 at 18:44
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    APIs are just an abstraction layer between your program and something else. That something else could be a server/service, or a piece of hardware, a "graphics API" like DirectX or OpenGL, or even the OS itself (the Windows API, for example). – gen_Eric Mar 19 '21 at 18:46

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Basically, Api is a set of tools and functions in order to make your code do something with another service. For example discord api lets you make a chat bot in java script. Apis can be basically found in all programming languages. A better example of an api:

var dis = require("picture-manager-api")

mypic = dis.upload("picture.png")

//your picture is now on the  picture management service thanks to this api.
Mark Ratcliffe
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