Hacker News Reader

Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

Work in transportation. We refer to them as EDI and API and often phrase it "We can do EDI or API.". So we don't think of them as the same thing. Goals are the same most of the time, but I never really think of EDI as AN API.

But the whole debate is a little pedantic for me. Just need to get it working ...

View on HN

This whole thing is like if Google insisted gRPC wasn't an API framework, it was just gRPC and indoctrinated every engineer that went through its ranks over the decades to perpetuate the same in other companies they join.

A calling convention is an API, an ABI is an API, and I am even okay with going as far as saying "walking into a convenience store, talking to a clerk in a human language to retrieve items in exchange of paper currency" is an API.

> and I am even okay with going as far as saying "walking into a convenience store, talking to a clerk in a human language to retrieve items in exchange of paper currency" is an API.

I think that is a bit far. Social customs define some sort of interface we use to complete transactions, but it is not programmable nor dealing with applications.

Yeah that bit is definitely a stretch. I was debating whether I should go as far as making that statement as well.

Its gets the point across but certainly a stretch. We are neither applications nor is the convention well-defined in that example, but the point stands.

> and I am even okay with going as far as saying "walking into a convenience store, talking to a clerk in a human language to retrieve items in exchange of paper currency" is an API.

This is more apt to call a protocol than an API. An API could conform to this protocol though, in a manner of speaking.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com