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It seems to be the same reason as of why "How to exit vim?" was generating .005% traffic on stackoverflow.

Web development has seen a boom and there are a lot of new web enthusiasts.

> I thought this would be about APIs as in APIs, that is the general concept which goes back decades, not REST APIs.

I agree, the description is not ambiguity-free. However do keep in mind that in web development the concept of an API is rather unambiguous.

Same here, I hate when API is used to denote Web APIs, which are only a subset.

> While in one sense an API is a compact between two or more pieces of technology, it’s ultimately a compact between two or more people.

Also the author could have re-read its article before publishing.

> Noun compact (plural compacts)

> An agreement or contract.