Pamela W. Holloway 
An Application Programming Interface, or “API,” is a useful tool that helps programmers determine how different software applications interact with one another. Managing these is important for keeping complex programming projects moving forward. Tools are only useful if used correctly. Observing the interactions between different APIs and the systems they represent as flexible as possible is important if you plan on using them for a long time.
Scalability, Security, and Support
API management can require an intense understanding of everything that it entails. Not only do you need to keep track of multiple APIs and their associated applications, but you also need to know how these application ecosystems interact with each other both in broad terms and in specific edge cases. That being said, you might be able to simplify the task by keeping in mind the “three S’s” of API management: Scalability, Security, and Support.
Having ample documentation is necessary for any project involving software. Maintaining a large system with a rotating cast of developers lacking documentation would be extremely difficult or impossible in any reasonable time frame. Scalability is helpful when your API needs to expand, so solving these problems requires to be a priority. Cybersecurity is also a major concern that many people have, and if your system isn’t very secure, you will find that it will not be very widely adopted. Support, and lastly, deals with supporting developers when creating and maintaining an API. This is by no means the least of the S’s, either.
Types of APIs
Not all application programming interfaces are the same, either. You can have APIs that manage the software that is handled internally called “internal APIs,” APIs that interface with an end-user called “public APIs,” and “partner APIs” that are more limited in scope but are specialized to reduce the amount of time and effort required to apply them. These different APIs applications do not vary so much that the underlying coding concepts are distinct, per se. Still, they are all different applications of the same ideas in ways that optimize the scalability and security of your API ecosystem.
what API management is, it’s pretty simple. API management encompasses all the higher-level aspects of an API implementation, from its creation to performance analysis. If you make any money from its development, you will need a commercial purpose for your API. Figuring out how to get your API in the hands of a consumer base also falls under the purview of API management.
Many software applications tend to function like a system of public, private, and protected functions that allow the end-user to interact with that software without exposing its inner workings to unwanted manipulation, and this extends even to the higher-level interactions between different applications and sometimes even how different APIs interact with each other. One major security aspect of API management is how you handle the API gateway between the public uses of your API and that API’s backend functionality. For this reason, you should map out the various components of your APIs and their possible interactions so you don’t accidentally introduce a hole in your system that could be taken advantage of.
An API will ultimately reflect the company’s goals that made it, but the basic concepts behind an API’s design can be used to work toward a specific purpose. That is where API management comes in. Software developers, individually, will ideally have an in-depth knowledge of the particular API layer in which they operate and maybe even have an understanding of adjacent layers. Still, regardless of how these APIs fit together, you will need to ensure they are getting the job done.
