Re: Java API

"crack_cs" <crypter00@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1146051580.676016.32300@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...


    The acronym "API" stands for Application Programming Interface, and so a
Java API is just something (an "interface", but not in the sense of the Java
keyword) that your Java program can talk to. So for example, if someone uses
the C programming language to writes a library to handle MP3 decoding, but
then wants to make the functionality of that library available to Java
programmers, that person might release a Java API which uses JNI to
translate the method calls to something the C code understands.

    Sometimes people use the term to mean documentation for the API (e.g.
the stuff generated by the "Javadoc" tool). When a someone provides you with
a library, they almost always provide you with the documentation for that
library.

    So if I take your question literally, I'd have to say that PeopleSoft is
not an app, but a company. If they release apps, they may on a case by case
basis decide to release APIs for those apps, or maybe they won't. If they
initially choose not to, it's conceivable that a third party may approach
them and request permission to create an API for their products, but I think
this is rarely down for commercial products (though it's somewhat common in
open source products).


    Assuming the application is written in Java, you could use reflection to
accomplish some of the above.

    - Oliver