





{"id":439200,"date":"2017-02-22T11:58:51","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T11:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exotel.com\/uae\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=439200"},"modified":"2023-12-04T11:03:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T11:03:05","slug":"explaining-apis-to-your-grandmother","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/exotel.com\/uae\/en\/blog\/explaining-apis-to-your-grandmother\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining APIs to your grandmother"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><section class=\"section section--body section--first\">\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<p id=\"e372\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--h4\">How would you explain an API (for e.g., call API, <a href=\"\/sms-api\/\">SMS API<\/a>) to your grandmother? &mdash; This is a question we ask our potential hires during their interview. And here are some of the funniest responses we&rsquo;ve received over the last few years.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"22b0\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">For the hi-tech grandma<\/h3>\n<p id=\"cb78\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p\">&ldquo;APIs are computers sitting in various places. Each computer has an address. If we know the address, we can contact the computer and use the service.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Ok, I got it, can you point me to your API documentation?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"4cdd\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-353244 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/Harvey.gif\" alt=\"Harvey API\" width=\"703\" height=\"397\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\">&ldquo;An API is a layer of endpoints to communicate with the business logic or platform without understanding the complexity of the platform in question and access its data and features.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<blockquote id=\"ea72\" class=\"graf graf--blockquote graf-after--figure\"><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-353245\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/kim-kardashian.gif\" alt=\"kim kardashian\" width=\"710\" height=\"398\"><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><em>Sure, I understood exactly what you said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"b18c\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--blockquote\">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a way for a grandmom to use her mobile to talk to her grandchild or relative using a computer over the Internet.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"9265\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf--iframe graf-after--p\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-353246\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/ron.gif\" alt=\"ron\" width=\"539\" height=\"385\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"62bf\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\">&ldquo;An API is a layer of endpoints to communicate with the business logic or platform without understanding the complexity of the platform in question and access its data and features.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-353247\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/Lady-in-red.gif\" alt=\"Lady in red\" width=\"649\" height=\"365\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"fab7\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\">&ldquo;API bole toh baat karne ka tareeka. Samajh lo sabke apne apne ishaare hain har kaam ke liye, toh har vyakti ke ishaare uska API hain.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-353248\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/kitty.gif\" alt=\"kitty\" width=\"635\" height=\"355\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"8571\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\">&ldquo;The TV remote is the API to watch TV. You just need to know what buttons do what.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"aa8e\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf--iframe graf-after--p\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-353249\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/remite.gif\" alt=\"remote\" width=\"596\" height=\"335\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em><strong>Wait, TV remote is a product or API?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"88c4\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--blockquote\">&ldquo;API is the podi (powder) that you prepared which everyone asks from you, to make the best sambar ever&nbsp;!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"acdc\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf--iframe graf-after--p\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-353250\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/Seinfield.gif\" alt=\"Seinfield\" width=\"336\" height=\"350\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"aaed\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\">&ldquo;API is like a postcard where you write your question in your language and send it to a particular address. The destination is capable of understanding any language and provide back the answer in your language again back on a postcard.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-353251\" src=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/02\/simpson.gif\" alt=\"simpson\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--figure\"><em>So, how would you explain APIs to your grandmother?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The original version of this article appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@Exotel\/explaining-apis-to-your-grandmother-8b694ac1dab5#.6d5u7yd11\">Medium<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How would you explain an API (for e.g., call API, SMS API) to your grandmother? &mdash; This is a question we ask our potential hires during their interview. And here are some of the funniest responses we&rsquo;ve received over the last few years. For the hi-tech grandma &ldquo;APIs are computers sitting in various places. Each [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":439202,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"tags":[],"blog-category":[228],"components":[],"class_list":["post-439200","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","blog-category-technology-and-roadmap"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.5 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Explaining APIs to your grandmother<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exotel.com\/uae\/en\/blog\/explaining-apis-to-your-grandmother\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Explaining APIs to your grandmother\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How would you explain an API (for e.g., call API, SMS API) to your grandmother? &mdash; This is a question we ask our potential hires during their interview. 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