JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development

9

APIS

User interfaces allow humans to interact with programs. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) let programs (including scripts) talk to each other.

Browsers, scripts, websites, and other applications frequently open up some of their functionality so that programmers can interact with them. For example:

BROWSERS

The DOM is an API. It allows scripts to access and update the contents of a web page while loaded in the browser. In this chapter you will meet some HTML5 JavaScript APIs that provide access to other browser features.

SCRIPTS

jQuery is a JavaScript file with an API. It allows you to select elements, then use its methods to work with those elements. It is just one of many scripts that let you to perform powerful tasks using their code.

PLATFORMS

Sites such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter open up their platforms so that you can access and update data they store (via websites and apps). In this chapter you see how Google lets you to add their maps to your sites.

You do not need to know how the other script or program achieves its task; you only need to know what it does, how to ask it to do something, and how to understand its replies. Therefore, this chapter will familiarize you with the form in which APIs are described.

PLAYING NICELY WITH OTHERS

You do not always need to know how a script or program works, as long you know how to ask it to do something, and how ...