# Web Services and APIs

A web service is a way of using the Internet to provide or accept information that makes sense to computers; this allows other sites or applications to consume information from, or provide information to, your service. This enables communication between applications, without having to establish any communication channels other than the ones that web browsers already use. It isn't the best fit for every application, but when it is useful, it is very useful.

An API can be a synonym for a web service, but it can also be a generally accessible way of providing data. For example, Twitter has a public API, which other applications can use to display tweets on their site.

- Photography by Michelle had a private web API that a desktop application utilized to create the online proof sets right from the computer where the images resided.

- We wrote a service for the 2010 40/40 Prayer Vigil, which was utilized by several sites to display the current day's (or hour's) prayer focus, and wrote one for 2012 as well. (As the ERLC does not host these any more, this service is no longer active.)

- myPrayerJournal (about) is a SPA which only downloads the structure of the site the first time you go there, then utilizes a stateless API to access data from the browser.

« Home