understanding an API

Question

I know that there are many API's like json,Facebook,twitter etc for developing related applications on iphone....but how to understand an API?This might be scilly question but I want to know how? what would you suggest for for a beginner?

Answer 1

You should find relevant documentation and read through some code examples utilizing the API.

If you are looking for information about the iphone, as the tag suggests, then read through the information here. There is an entire section dedicated to sample code. If you really can't understand how to make something work after some effort and some googling, then you can always ask on StackOverflow.

Answer 2

Hi, When ever I came through adding new API in my project I usually scan though documentation to find relevant topic to my project then after looking at the some sample code I usually start experimenting with the code to get the desired results and thats it because API is for short term use, you should not waste your precious time on just one API. So steps are, 1) find the relevant topic then 2) read sample code and 3) write your own code to get the desired results. 4) through away that API.

Cheers Ayaz Alavi

Answer 3

If it's open source, read the code from beginning to end. Or to see why things were designed in a certain way, maybe try reimplementing parts of the API.