What the hell does API mean?

January 15th, 2011 by webmaster

Courtesy of thecookshack.blogspot.com but likely stolen from elsewhere before that...

Thankfully, I’m well aware of what the acronym in the title stands for. Surprisingly, it takes me a good 4-5 seconds each time I’m forced to recall what it means/stands for. I’m sure a lot of people out there are faced with the same difficulties in processing the infinite amount of abbreviations, so I’ve scoured (ok, ok…I’ve accessed 2 or 3 other sites namely Techterms and Acronyms Online) the web and made a list for your reading pleasure of ones we come across frequently enough.

Consider it a refresher. I can’t be posting insightful, stimulating, and jaw-dropping book reviews and observations every time now can I?? j..o..king.

I’ve also gone ahead and linked each of the brief definitions to the Wikipedia entry. Eat your hearts out detail freaks.

Here goes:

API – Application Program(ming) Interface

ASP – Active Server Pages or Application Service Provider

BMP – Bitmap

CGI – Common Gateway Interface

CMYK – Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

CPA – Cost per action

CPL – Cost per lead – same as CPA per Wikipedia

CRM – Customer relationship management

DNS – Domain Name System (Server)

FTP – File transfer protocol