An application programming interface (API) is a way for different parts of computer software to talk to each other, so its basically a Rosetta Stone. The API is usually connected to a library, which contains a set of rules for expected behavior of the system you want to work with, "If you tell the computer you want it to do this like this, then it will do this like that. If it doesn't do this like that, are you saying it right?" That kind of stuff.
There are other ways to go about things, it really all depends on what you feel comfortable using. For instance you might fux with linux and go with an application binary interface, but if you work in POSIX then API is the standard. Whatever floats your boat.
When most finally get in there and start poking around they realize fairly quickly that making a computer do what you want it to do is only as confusing as getting people to do what you want them to do by putting up posters of your demands everywhere, or yelling into a bullhorn on a busy street.
And when you give up trying to get a computer to do what you want it to do you switch up and endeavor to just communicate with it in a way that any human being would be able to understand, like thumbs up/down, or putting up standardized signs (green,red,yellow, etc..)
So most people avoid it, even though in reality it's just another big book, and all you really need to add a page is access to the alphabet, a way to write words, and understanding of which language your target understands.
Thing is that a lot of people these days think of this gen of computers as something that can reason and answer on the fly and powder a babies bootie and all that mess, but its just not true, we aren't there yet, it's all smoke and mirrors. Siri can tell you how to get somewhere, and Cleverbot can aggregate why you are asking a certain question, but still can't explain why you need to be there, or why you are asking, unless a human told them first. What's the rush?
Old people know whats up, they sit down to any piece of tech for two nano minutes and say, "Well fuck this, I wont be around long, and I don't trust this computer gal, so kid, show me the easiest way to get it to tell me what I want to know, and have it show me what other people want me to know, and then I will do that same thing over and over in moderation until I die."
The Protoculture Mixtape v.87 Issue : People : Function
