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My understanding of an API is this:

An API is the interface implemented by an application which allows other applications to communicate with it.

So why is DOM or Jquery considered to be an API?

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closed as not a real question by Jarrod Roberson, GlenH7, ElYusubov, Walter, Yannis Rizos♦ Nov 9 '12 at 22:58

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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

Simple:

They are literally interfaces that you program JavaScript applications against - API by definition.

Edit:

jQuery is a library that has a public API to provide an abstraction over the DOM. So when people refer the jQuery API, they are referring to this interface provided by the library.

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That might be a close enough description for the DOM, but jQuery an API??? – Yannis Rizos♦ Nov 9 '12 at 22:00
@YannisRizos You are technically correct. This was a semi-smart-ass response, so I edited for clarification. – bunglestink Nov 9 '12 at 22:06
thanks for the response guys..but its strange that my question is down voted and the answer is upvoted – user1463541 Nov 9 '12 at 22:49

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