Chapter 5 Summary
I have spent a lot of time on social media sending ims, but I never fully understood the specific technologies making that communication happen. It was cool to see the clear difference between pull and push technology. I wasn't aware that older systems like the Usenet News Service, which started back in 1979, relied on pull technology where the users had to actively retrieve the information they needed compared to now where it makes complete sense to the chat programs and photo-sharing sites I use today rely on push technology to deliver content to me in real-time. Knowing how this evolved really changed my perspective on how much we take instantaneous , auto web communication for granted.
The most interesting part of the module for me was the breakdown of how APIs work. I've always noticed how apps and websites seem to seamlessly connect and share data with each other, but I never understood the mechanics behind them. I learned that an app Programming Interface is a set of tools that lets developers build applications that can communicate with other programs without risking the original software's interface. It's really interesting to see how companies make these APIs available, often for free, just to reduce the amount of coding third-party developers have to do. Going forward, whenever I see one app perfectly integrating with another,I’ll know the APIs are to thank for that.
It is much easier to read on a screen if you keep the paragraphs somewhat short!