Difference between an API and SDK

Question

I am trying to explain to a non-developer the difference between an API an SDK  I need to explain why a commercial fingerprint software vendor will likely not provide an SDK  although they may certainly have used one   Both device vendors and software vendors can and should expose a well-defined API  This API allows other software programs to  be written to  inter-operate with the vendor   s own software components or hardware devices   If someone has more ideas to explain this clearly  I would very much appreciate the suggestions  I want to emphasize that the goal is to explain the concepts to a non-programmer who does not know developer lingo   Specifically  in the context of a fingerprint sensor versus software to do enrollment verification  here is how I attempted to explain it      If I am a fingerprint device sensor manufacturer and not in the   business of writing software  the ways I could better market my   product are          Make sure my device drivers are installable on a wide variety of operating systems   Define and provide an API for software developers to write programs  e g   for enrollment  verification  to    talk    to or use my   device   Develop and provide an SDK  one step beyond an API  to make it easier and faster for software developers to write programs that work   with my device  SDKs may provide helper code libraries  reference   applications  documentation etc

User · Answer

API is like the building blocks of some puzzling game that a child plays with to join blocks in different shapes and build something they can think of   SDK  on the other hand  is a proper workshop where all of the development tools are available  rather than pre-shaped building blocks  In a workshop you have the actual tools and you are not limited to blocks  and can therefore make your own blocks  or can create something without any blocks to begin with    coding without an SDK or API is like making everything from scratch without a workshop - you have to even make your own tools

User · Answer

I m not sure there s any official definition of these two terms   I understand an API to be a set of documented programmable libraries and supporting source such as headers or IDL files   SDKs usually contain APIs but often often add compilers  tools  and samples to the mix

User · Answer

Application Programming Interface is a set of routines data structures classes which specifies a way to interact with the target platform software like OS X  Android  project management application  virtualization software etc   While Software Development Kit is a wrapper around API s that makes the job easy for developers    For example  Android SDK facilitates developers to interact with the Android platform as a whole while the platform itself is built by composite software components communicating via APIs   Also  sometimes SDKs are built to facilitate development in a specific programming language  For example  Selenium web driver  built in Java  provides APIs to drive any browser natively  while capybara can be considered an an SDK that facilitates Ruby developers to use Selenium web driver  However  Selenium web driver is also an SDK by itself as it combines interaction with various native browser drivers into one package

User · Answer

API   Dictionary of available words and their meanings  and the required grammar to combine them   SDK   A Word processing system    for 2 year old babies    that writes right from ideas  Although you COULD go to school and become a master in your language after a few years  using the SDK will help you write whole meaningful sentences in no time  Forgiving the fact that  in this example  as a baby you haven t even gotten to learn any other language for at least to learn to use the SDK

User · Answer

You use an SDK to access functionality of a library  and an API to control it

User · Answer

Suppose company C offers product P and P involves software in some way  Then C can offer a library set of libraries to software developers that drive P s software systems    That library libraries are an SDK  It is part of the systems of P  It is a kit for software developers to use in order to modify  configure  fix  improve  etc the software piece of P    If C wants to offer P s functionality to other companies systems  it does so with an API    This is an interface to P  A way for external systems to interact with P   If you think in terms of implementation  they will seem quite similar  Especially now that the internet has become like one large distributed operating system   In purpose  though  they are actually quite distinct   You build something with an SDK and you use or consume something with an API

User · Answer

How about    It s like if you wanted to install a home theatre system in your house  Using an API is like getting all the wires  screws  bits  and pieces  The possibilities are endless  constrained only by the pieces you receive   but sometimes overwhelming  An SDK is like getting a kit  You still have to put it together  but it s more like getting pre-cut pieces and instructions for an IKEA bookshelf than a box of screws

User · Answer

Piece of cake    an API is an interface  It s like the specification of the telephone system or the electrical wiring in your house  Anything  can use it as long as it knows how to interface  You can even buy off-the-shelf software to use a particular API  just as you can buy off the shelf telephone equipment or devices that plug into the AC wiring in your house  an SDK is implementation tooling  It s like a kit that allows   you to build something custom to hook up to the telephone system or electrical wiring     Anything can use an API  Some APIs have security provisions to require license keys  authentication  etc  which may prohibit complete use of the API in particular instances  but that s only because particular authentication authorization steps fail  Any software that presents the right credentials  if required  can use the API     Technically  if an API is well-documented  you don t need an SDK to build your own software to use the API  But having an SDK generally makes the process much easier

User · Answer

API is specifications on how to do something  an interface  such as  The railroad tracks are four feet apart  and the metal bar is 1 inch wide  Now that you have the API you can now build a train that will fit on those railroad tracks if you want to go anywhere  API is just information on how to build your code  it doesn t do anything   SDK is some package of actual tools that already worried about the specifications   Here s a train  some coal  and a maintenance man  Use it to go from place to place  With the SDK you don t worry about specifics  An SDK is actual code  it can be used by itself to do something  but of course  the train won t start up spontaneously  you still have to get a conductor to control the train   SDKs also have their own APIs   If you want to power the train put coal in it    Pull the blue lever to move the train     If the train starts acting funny  call the maintenance man  etc

[api] Difference between an API and SDK

Examples related to api

Examples related to sdk