Technical jargon: What does API mean?

Everyone is suddenly clamoring for them as if there were no tomorrow without them: the "ei-pi-ais" - as they are pronounced - or written out the "application programming interfaces", in German the "application programming interfaces". What a dirty word! So it's no wonder that the acronym has caught on. There would be nothing wrong with that. However, the fact that it is suddenly becoming more important not only for software developers, but also for urban developers, is astonishing. But let's take things one step at a time. Those who isolate their technical developments and make them accessible only to their peers may be able to earn a lot of money in the short and medium term and - as the example of Apple with its Circle Headquarters shows - also manifest this philosophy in terms of urban development, but in the long term they will no longer be successful. In contrast, the "other" tech giants Amazon, Google, Microsoft or Facebook. When one of them publishes that it is opening and making available an API or an interface for something, then hectic activity breaks out in the developer scene. This was the case the other day when Google released APIs for its My Business posts, which offer completely new possibilities and make the data flow even more smoothly. Amazon's API Gateway is even a fully managed service that enables, simplifies and accelerates the creation, publishing, maintenance, monitoring and securing of APIs of any size for developers. Using what's called a management console, developers can create an API that provides access to data, business logic or functionality from their back-end services. This is then the mother of all APIs, so to speak. It's no wonder that the company is growing like a goat, and city developers and politicians in 238 American cities are courting the giant's favor to please make its five billion investment for a second headquarters in their city. Atlanta (soft drinks and television), Pittsburgh (steel industry), Dallas (oil) and many more hope to get an interface or API into the digital age.*Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He created the column "Vom Fach" in the NZZ FOLIO and was in charge of it for years. He presents and decodes words and terms from the field of marketing.