3 ms·
1. Is this for real? 2. Here are exactly two things that you need to memorize in order to make this sort of talk productive: a) I don't know what X is, sorry.
by alxlaz 8y ago
1. Is this for real?
2. Here are exactly two things that you need to memorize in order to make this sort of talk productive:
a) I don't know what X is, sorry. Can you tell me what that is/Can you explain to me what it does?
b) I'm not sure I follow. I thought X is [...]/does [...], what am I missing?
3. Did anyone who actually knows what these things mean review these definitions? E.g:
Vanilla:
"Plain or basic, often used in reference to coding languages or other computing-related systems that remain unmodified from their original form."
There's nothing plain or basic about the vanilla Linux kernel. What makes it vanilla is the absence of distribution- and/or vendor-specific patches that are not in mainline.
API:
"A set of rules that developers follow to create software that can interact with an external system or application."
This sort of matches what an API is in web land, if you squint a little. If someone were to ask me what that definition describes, "API" is about the last thing I'd say.
Django:
"A style sheet language that extends from CSS."
Last time I wrote web-related code, my girlfriend dragged me to see The Aviator twice because it was all the rage, and I haven't really kept up, but I could swear Django is not a language and that it doesn't extend from CSS, whatever that means.
- LyndsySimon 8y ago> API Yeah, I'd say an API is the interface that you expose so that other developers or systems can interact with your project. That can be over HTTP if it's a web service, but it can also be the interface that you expose from a library that's intended to be used by other developers. Python's Requests is based around the idea of exposing a better API than the stdlib's to manage HTTP requests. Win32 is an API, and so is Cocoa. > Django Uh... generally speaking, Django is a Python web framework. It has its own templating language, but I don't recall any facility specific to CSS. That one is just weird.
- iaml 8y ago>This sort of matches what an API is in web land, if you squint a little. If someone were to ask me what that definition describes, "API" is about the last thing I'd say. I struggle with defining simple things like this, and I think what author offers is a good generic way to define API. This definition includes any actual way I can imagine one can get (programmatic) access to generic service that does not belong to them. I would really like to know how you would define it though.
- nitrogen 8y agoA user interface is how a person talks to software. An API is how software talks to software. An API is like a restaurant menu, but for software. A menu tells a person what they can request from a restaurant. An API tells a programmer what their software can request from other software.
- BrandoElFollito 8y agoExcellent definition. The second part is true when there is a documentation.