Applications and systems rely on smooth communication and data sharing to deliver improved functionality and services in today's interconnected digital environment. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are quite important in this situation. APIs serve as mediators, enabling interoperability, data sharing, and communication between various software programmes. This article will provide you a thorough introduction to APIs and their importance in contemporary software development, whether you're a developer, a tech enthusiast, or just interested about the world of APIs.

Introduction to API​

Application Programming Interface is referred to as API. It is a set of guidelines and protocols that specifies how various software components ought to communicate and share information.

• APIs can be thought of as a contract that enables successful communication between two software entities.
• APIs give programmers a standardised method of using the features of other software platforms, libraries, or systems.

Why are APIs Important?​

APIs have revolutionized the way software is developed and integrated. Here are some key reasons why APIs are important:

Types of APIs​

APIs come in different types and formats, depending on the purpose and underlying technology. Here are some common types of APIs:

• Web APIs: These APIs allow web-based services and applications to communicate with one another. The majority of the time, they are built on widely used web protocols like HTTP and REST (Representational State Transfer).

• SOAP APIs: Based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) APIs offer a standardised method for applications to communicate structured information across a network.

• JSON-RPC and XML-RPC: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) or XML can be used as the data format for remote procedure calls when using the JSON-RPC or XML-RPC APIs. They're frequently employed for lightweight.

API Communication Styles:​

• RESTful APIs: REST (Representational State Transfer) is a popular architectural style for designing web APIs. RESTful APIs use standard HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to perform operations on resources. They often return data in formats like JSON or XML.

• GraphQL: GraphQL is an alternative to RESTful APIs that provides a more flexible and efficient approach to data retrieval. With GraphQL, clients can specify the exact data they need, reducing over-fetching and under-fetching of data.

• Real-Time APIs: Real-time APIs use technologies like WebSockets to enable bidirectional communication between the client and the server. They are ideal for applications that require instant updates, such as chat applications or real-time collaboration tools.

Common APIs​

• Social media APIs: Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer APIs that let programmers incorporate social media features into their applications, such as updating statuses, retrieving user profiles, or engaging with social networks.

• Payment Gateway APIs: Companies such as PayPal, Stripe, and Braintree provide APIs for handling online payments, allowing developers to include secure payment processing into their apps.

• Mapping and Geolocation APIs: Maps, geolocation data, routing, and other location-based services are all made available by mapping and geolocation APIs, which developers can use to build apps with mapping features. Examples of these APIs include Google Maps and Mapbox.

Conclusion​

APIs enable seamless integration, teamwork, and creativity, serving as the foundation for contemporary software development. For developers and organisations wishing to take use of the power of APIs to build strong and interconnected applications, understanding APIs and their many types, communication styles, authentication methods, documentation practises, and management systems is essential. So go ahead and discover the immense possibilities that APIs contain for your software applications by exploring their enormous world!

This Blog talks about the emerging trends in Cloud computing, and also gives a gist about the term Cloud Computing and its impact in leveraging businesses and individuals. The cloud has the ability to streamline and improve a variety of processes. From understanding the meaning of cloud computing model to discussing various characteristics, this blog will be your one-stop-shop for all things cloud computing. So, fasten your seatbelts and let's dive into the exciting world of the cloud together!!

What is Cloud Computing ?

Cloud computing is a way of using current technology where we can access and use internet-based services and storage to manage, process, and store data and information, instead of having to have it all on your own personal device or computer.

We can think of it like having access to a giant computer in the sky that we can use to do our work, store our files, and run our applications, without having to worry about the technical details or maintenance of the underlying hardware and software. This makes it easier and more convenient for us to access our data and resources from anywhere in the world, as long as we have an internet connection.

Let's take a look at some intriguing features of Cloud Computing!!​

Lets have a look at some of the most used Cloud Storage Services​

Most used Cloud Storage Services

Google Drive is by far the most popular cloud storage service in the world, with an use rate of 94.44 percent. The finest cloud storage for collaboration, Dropbox, is in second position with a still-impressive 66.2 percent, followed by OneDrive (39.35 percent) and iCloud (38.89 percent). Additionally popular cloud storage providers include MEGA (5.09 percent), Box (4.17 percent), and pCloud (1.39%), all of which made our list of the top cloud storage services.

Statistics on Cloud Service Providers​

Stats on Cloud Service Providers

AWS still holds over a third of the cloud services market:

• In Q2 2022, AWS commanded 34% of the cloud market, a 1% increase year-over-year. Azure is second with 21% of the market, followed by Google Cloud (10%), Alibaba (5%), and IBM (4%).
• Amazon's revenue from AWS grew from 5.62 in 2014 to 13.24% in 2021.
• The survey also showed the cloud market continues to grow 34% year-over-year.

Some drawbacks to have a look upon​

Drawbacks of Cloud Computing

According to cybersecurity experts, the most pressing cloud security challenges are misconfiguration of the cloud infrastructure (68 percent); unauthorized access (58 percent); insecure API (52 percent); accounts, services or traffic hijacking (50 percent) and external data sharing (43 percent).

Conclusion​

• In conclusion, cloud computing has become an increasingly popular and indispensable tool for businesses and organizations of all sizes. With its ability to provide on-demand access to a wide range of computing resources, including storage, computing power, and applications, it has transformed the way organizations operate and has unlocked new opportunities for innovation and growth.
• The cloud offers many benefits, including cost savings, scalability, increased efficiency, and improved security. As more and more businesses adopt cloud computing, it is likely that this trend will continue to grow, driving further innovation and enabling organizations to do more with less.
• However, while the benefits of cloud computing are clear, there are also challenges that must be addressed, such as ensuring data security, managing vendor lock-in, and ensuring reliable performance.
• Despite these challenges, the future of cloud computing looks bright, with advancements in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things set to further drive its growth and revolutionize the way businesses operate.

In short, cloud computing is here to stay, and its impact on the business world will only continue to grow in the years to come.

Project management is a wild way to make sure things are progressing as they should. There is a project management technique for everything. Well, almost everything. I haven't found a project managing concept to overcome my feelings of procrastination. Someone might create it one day.

What really is Open Source?​

If you're the engineering type of person that tackles humanity's problems and urgent needs by bringing together an entire community and building a "project" with them, you'll want to know about Open source. Open source refers to a philosophy of software development that emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and community-driven innovation.

Here it is again in bigger letters, for impact:

Open source refers to a philosophy of software development that emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and community-driven innovation.​

And now you know what open source is. In theory, this blog post could be done!

Beyond the marketing standpoint​

Technology is a concept which is ever-changing in how it is defined, its magnitude and how we as engineers develop it. In the world of technology we always find "buzz words" which reflect the recent advancements which are so efficient that they are slowly brought within the industry as a standard way of working on projects, as a team.

One such "buzz word" in the area of software development and project management is open source. Open source is a way of working on a software typically developed in a public, collaborative manner, with the source code made freely available to anyone who wants to use, modify, or distribute it. The term "open source" was coined in 1998 by a group of people in the software industry who wanted to create a new model of software development that was more collaborative and community-driven.

Open source software is often developed and maintained by a community of volunteers and contributors, who work together to improve the software and fix bugs. Consider your homework: a dry document which contains things here and there which you know is very incomplete. If you have a good enough personality (which I don't), you send this document to all your classmates who start doing bits of your homework.

The result? A fine specimen of a document which the entire class can show to your teachers for great marks! What you just did here was open sourcing your homework and let your student community work on it to create a more appealing document which is now complete.

But open source doesn't stop there​

Imagine your homework to be your project, your classmates to be your community. This community observes your project and suggests various improvements within it. Be it suggesting simple changes of changing the fonts or re-working the already existing complex APIs and queries.

A simple conversation between a contributor and a project developer

Another way to look at open source can be building the big Lego City together, block by block. Everyone can add their own pieces to what has been constructed so far and everyone can see how the city is made. In this way, everyone can make the city better and use it how they want.

Budding software engineers collaborating to build their project

Open source is a great way to bring like-minded developers together. Everybody around you, be a fresher student or an industry experienced individual, has had to encounter with open source technologies without even realizing it. From something we daily use like Android to Linux: the operating system used by many corporates and tech giants, there's no saying what the next big thing will be.

Python, Dart, React, MongoDB, even this text box is open source

That's about the gist of what I wished to express regarding open source. Surely that's not everything but I do look forward to go in-depth into this topic and talk about various different things which excite me! Do look forward to upcoming blogposts and reach me out for any constructive criticism, if any, for the future blogposts.

Welcome to our first blog​

Welcome everyone to TCET Open Source's Blog Section. Here, we promote blogging in the student community. Talk about ongoing trends in tech, student life at TCET, and any topic you feel would feel great for this blog.

General Blog Guidlines​

Here we define all the basic guidlines a blog should follow in TCET Open Source Blogs.

Clone the project​

For being able to contribute anywhere, one must be able to clone and run projects. You can visit this tutorial to learn how to work on this project.

Basic GitHub commands​

For any contributor it is very necessary to understand basic GitHub commands to begin with. There is a resources forum on TCET - Open Source Discord server where you can find relevant references for the same. There can also be a blog post regarding these commands in the future!

Understand file structure​

Once you have cloned the project in your local storage, you will need to perform the following:

1. Open the project directory and navigate to blog/.
2. Create a folder for your blog post.

• The folder should have the following name format:

yyyy-mm-dd-blog-title

• Here, the date stands for the date when the post is supposed to be released. The blog title should be relevant to the content within the post.

3. Within the folder, create index.md. This file will serve as a text document where you can format your content which will reflect in the final post.

Understand markdown files and syntax​

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents. The index.md file created in your blog folder is a markdown file, similar to how index.html can be an HTML file. It is very essential for a blog contributor to understand the basic syntax of markdown. Resource forum in our Discord server covers basic syntax of these files.

First steps​

Before moving any further, a blogger must know the following:

• slug - It is the last part of the URL address that serves as a unique identifier of the blog post.
• title - The main title of the blog post. Note that the blog title should be relevant to the content within the post.
• authors - The list of authors who have worked on the blog post. Look below to understand how to add authors.
• tags - It highlights the key words of the post to boost it's visibility on the internet and improve the SEO.

These four information are necessary to be present in every post. Without these, no posts will be approved and merged within the blog.

authors:
  - name: Name of Author 1
    title: Designation, Post or About
    url: https://github.com/author1
    image_url: https://github.com/author1.png
  - name: Name of Author 2
    title: Designation, Post or About
    url: https://github.com/author1
    image_url: https://github.com/author2.png

Adding images​

Tired of good ol' textbook nerdy look on your post? Introducing: images. Images are a great way to keep the reader's attention to your posts, and now you can do that very easily:

1. The image must be present within your blog folder. If it isn't, save the image in your blog folder.
2. To add the image within your post, use the following syntax:

![Alt text](image.png)

• Here, image.png stands for the name of the image you have in the blog directory. Markdown supports a great amount of image formats, ranging from png, jpg, svg, and even gifs.

Congratulations​

Following these steps and points, you will be able to create a beautiful blog post. It's final structure would look something like this:

With a fresh blog post ready, you can now finally create a pull request to reflect your post on our blog here!

Looking forward to new content from you all. Have fun and go contribute something great!