Technology for Product Managers - Part One

How different platforms are built and used?

Choosing the right product platform for your business involves careful consideration of factors such as your target market, budget, scalability needs, and technical requirements. Assessing the compatibility of the platform with your business model, industry standards, and growth objectives is crucial. Additionally, evaluating the platform's features, customization options, integration capabilities, and support services can help ensure it aligns with your business goals. Whether opting for a hosted solution, open-source platform, or custom-built solution, selecting a platform that offers flexibility, reliability, and scalability is essential for long-term success and growth.

Individuals have diverse preferences when it comes to operating systems (OSes), which are pivotal in all computing devices, ranging from smartphones to supercomputers.

An operating system, or OS, is a collection of computer programs and software enabling user-computer interaction. It oversees both hardware and software resources, facilitating their management. OSes serve various purposes, from everyday personal computing to mobile operations and specialized tasks.

For a significant presence in the smartphone market, there exist two primary operating systems: iOS and Android. Despite offering similar functionalities, apps developed for each OS are incompatible with the other. This incompatibility often sparks contentious discussions when considering market entry strategies.

Versioning:

• iOS typically maintains higher uniformity across devices due to centralized updates, simplifying development but potentially limiting compatibility.
• Android, with its fragmented ecosystem, presents challenges in ensuring compatibility across various OS versions and device models.

Performance:

• iOS devices, benefiting from tight hardware-software integration, generally offer consistent performance, albeit at potentially higher price points.
• Android devices, with their diversity in specifications, may vary in performance, impacting user experience and app performance accordingly.

Dynamic Information:

• Android provides greater flexibility and customization options, allowing for access to dynamic information through widgets, third-party integrations, and custom launchers.
• iOS offers a curated environment with limited customization but still allows for dynamic content through features like widgets and app extensions.

These factors contribute to the ongoing debates surrounding the choice of operating system when expanding into new markets, as businesses weigh the trade-offs between compatibility, performance, and user experience.

Let's examine how Google went about giving phone manufacturers unfettered access to Android:

Google implemented a strategy of offering Android for free to phone manufacturers to achieve several key objectives:

1. Market Dominance: By providing Android at no cost, Google aimed to quickly capture a significant share of the mobile operating system market. This strategy proved successful, with Android becoming the dominant platform, powering over 80% of newly-sold phones by the end of 2020.
2. Ecosystem Growth: Google's primary revenue stream is advertising, and offering Android for free allowed them to expand their ecosystem of users accessing Google services such as Search, Maps, Gmail, and YouTube. This increased user engagement with Google's services, driving advertising revenue.
3. Customization and Differentiation: Android's open-source nature enables phone manufacturers to customize the interface and add their own features, helping their devices stand out in the competitive market. This customization empowers manufacturers to differentiate their products and incentivizes them to choose Android over other operating systems.
4. Scalability and Compatibility: Android's open-source architecture supports scalability and compatibility across a wide range of devices, from budget-friendly smartphones to high-end flagship models. This flexibility allows manufacturers to target various market segments and cater to diverse consumer preferences and budgets.

Overall, Google's strategy of providing Android for free has led to its widespread adoption, market dominance, and ecosystem growth, benefiting both consumers and manufacturers alike. However, the abundance of device options resulting from Android's openness may sometimes lead to decision paralysis or dissatisfaction among consumers, known as the paradox of choice. Nonetheless, Android's scalability, customization options, and compatibility with Google services have contributed to its enduring success in the smartphone market.

When choosing a platform for your business, whether it's for software development, marketing, or any other purpose, several factors should be considered. These factors can vary depending on your specific needs, objectives, and target audience, but here are some common factors to consider:

Factors to consider when choosing platforms for app development include:

1. Target Market: Determine where your major market is located and what operating systems (OS) they predominantly use. This ensures you prioritize platforms that align with your target audience's preferences and maximize reach.
2. Customization Needs: Evaluate the level of customization required for your app. Consider whether iOS or Android better supports the desired features and functionalities, as iOS may have limitations on certain customizations due to its more controlled environment.
3. Monetization Strategy: Assess the platform's capabilities for generating revenue, such as through in-app purchases, subscriptions, or advertising. Consider which platform offers better opportunities for monetization based on your app's business model.
4. Integration and Compatibility: Consider the ease of integrating your app with other platforms, services, or APIs. Evaluate the platform's compatibility with third-party tools and services that are essential for your app's functionality.
5. Development Resources: Evaluate the availability and expertise of technical resources for developing and maintaining the app on each platform. Consider factors such as development tools, programming languages, and developer communities to ensure efficient and effective development.

By carefully considering these factors, you can make informed decisions about which platforms to prioritize for app development, ensuring compatibility with your target market, customization needs, and technical requirements.

System design fundamentals for product Managers

System design and architecture are fundamental aspects of product management (PM), as they involve creating the blueprint for how a product will function and interact with users. PMs need to understand the basics of system design and architecture to effectively communicate with engineering teams, make informed decisions, and align product development with business goals.

Let's start by understanding the concept of system dynamics before diving into system design.

A system can be understood in terms of its nodes, relationships, and purposes:

1. Nodes: Nodes represent the individual components or elements within the system. These could be physical entities such as objects, people, or devices, or they could be abstract entities such as processes, variables, or concepts. Each node plays a specific role within the system and interacts with other nodes in various ways.
2. Relationships: Relationships define the connections or interactions between nodes within the system. These relationships describe how nodes influence or depend on each other to achieve the system's objectives. Relationships can take various forms, such as direct connections, dependencies, feedback loops, hierarchies, or associations.
3. Purposes: The purpose of a system refers to its overarching goal or objectives. It defines why the system exists and what it aims to achieve. The purposes of a system guide its design, organization, and behavior, shaping the interactions between nodes and relationships to produce specific outcomes or results.

Understanding the nodes, relationships, and purposes of a system is essential for analyzing, designing, and managing complex systems in various domains. It allows stakeholders to identify key components, map out interactions, clarify goals and objectives, and make informed decisions to optimize system performance and outcomes. Additionally, examining these aspects helps in identifying patterns, dependencies, and emergent properties within the system, enabling better understanding and management of its behavior and dynamics.

Here are examples illustrating the concepts of nodes, relationships, and purposes within different systems:

1. Social Network System:

• Nodes: Individual users, represented by their profiles, are the nodes within the social network system.
• Relationships: Relationships between nodes include connections such as friendships, follows, or connections based on shared interests.
• Purposes: The purpose of the social network system is to facilitate communication, networking, and sharing of information among users, enhancing social interactions and connections.

1. Transportation System:

• Nodes: Vehicles, roadways, traffic signals, and passengers are nodes within the transportation system.
• Relationships: Relationships include traffic flow, routes, scheduling, and interactions between vehicles and infrastructure.
• Purposes: The purpose of the transportation system is to facilitate the movement of people and goods from one location to another efficiently, safely, and reliably, supporting economic activities and social mobility.

1. Ecological System:

• Nodes: Species, ecosystems, habitats, and environmental factors (such as temperature and precipitation) are nodes within the ecological system.
• Relationships: Relationships include predator-prey interactions, symbiotic relationships, nutrient cycling, and responses to environmental changes.
• Purposes: The purpose of the ecological system is to maintain balance and harmony among living organisms and their environment, supporting biodiversity, ecological stability, and ecosystem services.

1. Financial System:

• Nodes: Banks, financial institutions, investors, borrowers, and financial instruments (such as stocks and bonds) are nodes within the financial system.
• Relationships: Relationships include lending and borrowing, investments, financial transactions, and market dynamics.
• Purposes: The purpose of the financial system is to facilitate the allocation of capital, resources, and risk, supporting economic growth, investment, and wealth creation.

1. Supply Chain System:

• Nodes: Suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers are nodes within the supply chain system.
• Relationships: Relationships include supply chain logistics, inventory management, production processes, and customer demand.
• Purposes: The purpose of the supply chain system is to ensure the efficient flow of goods and services from suppliers to end customers, meeting demand, minimizing costs, and maximizing customer satisfaction.

These examples demonstrate how nodes, relationships, and purposes manifest within different systems, illustrating the interconnectedness and complexity inherent in system dynamics across various domains.

Which holds greater importance in a system: the individual components or the connections between them?

While both nodes and relationships are essential components of a system, relationships often hold greater significance due to their role in shaping the system's behavior and outcomes. Here's why relationships are often considered more important than nodes:

1. Dynamic Interactions: Relationships define the dynamic interactions and dependencies between nodes within the system. These interactions drive the flow of information, resources, and feedback loops that shape the system's behavior over time.
2. Emergent Properties: It's the relationships between nodes, rather than the nodes themselves, that give rise to emergent properties or behaviors within the system. These emergent properties may include patterns, trends, or systemic phenomena that cannot be predicted by examining the nodes individually.
3. System Resilience: Strong relationships contribute to the resilience and adaptability of the system, enabling it to withstand disturbances, recover from disruptions, and maintain stability in the face of changes or uncertainties.
4. System Functionality: Relationships facilitate the coordination, collaboration, and cooperation necessary for the system to achieve its objectives effectively. Well-established relationships foster trust, communication, and synergy among nodes, enhancing system functionality and performance.
5. Feedback Mechanisms: Relationships often involve feedback loops that regulate system behavior and maintain equilibrium. These feedback mechanisms enable the system to self-regulate, adjust to changing conditions, and achieve dynamic balance over time.
6. System Evolution: Relationships play a crucial role in the evolution and adaptation of the system over time. As the system interacts with its environment and internal dynamics, relationships may evolve, shift, or reconfigure to accommodate new conditions, challenges, or opportunities.
7. Value Creation: Ultimately, the value of a system lies not only in its individual components (nodes) but also in the quality, strength, and effectiveness of the relationships between these components. Strong relationships create value by facilitating collaboration, innovation, and mutual benefit among system stakeholders.

While nodes provide the foundation of a system, relationships are the dynamic connections that give the system its structure, behavior, and purpose. By understanding and optimizing relationships within the system, stakeholders can enhance system performance, resilience, and value, leading to more effective and sustainable outcomes.

What is the aim or objective of a system?

A system should possess self-reflection and self-adaptation capabilities to learn from its environment and adjust accordingly. It must also embrace nonlinearity, where small changes can lead to disproportionately large effects, to effectively navigate complexity and uncertainty. These qualities enable systems to evolve, respond dynamically, and achieve resilience in diverse contexts.

Systems also incorporate feedback loops, which can be categorized into two types:

1. Reinforcing (Positive) Feedback Loop: This type of feedback loop amplifies or reinforces the initial change, leading to further increases in the same direction. These loops often result in exponential growth or escalation of a system's behavior.

2. Transient Feedback Loop: A transient feedback loop refers to a temporary or short-lived feedback loop within a system. Unlike reinforcing or balancing feedback loops, which can have long-term effects on system behavior, transient feedback loops may have a more immediate impact but do not necessarily lead to sustained changes in the system's dynamics.

Transient feedback loops can arise in various contexts and may contribute to short-term fluctuations or adjustments in system behavior. While they may not have the same long-lasting effects as reinforcing or balancing feedback loops, transient feedback loops can still play a significant role in shaping system dynamics, particularly in response to temporary disturbances or changes in conditions

Feedback loops are sequences of cause-and-effect relationships that create a loop where the output feeds back into the chain as an input. Consequently, these systems continuously interact with themselves. Since all system dynamics emerge from feedback loop interactions, they are inherent in all systems. Thus, pinpointing these feedback loops is fundamental to the system dynamics approach.

What constitutes the Intrinsic Value of a system?

The intrinsic value of a system refers to its inherent worth or utility, independent of external factors or influences. It represents the fundamental value or quality that the system possesses based on its design, components, functionality, and performance.

The basic equation used in systems dynamics or stock-and-flow modeling is:

Change?in?Stock=Inflow?Outflow

This equation describes how the level of a stock within a system changes over time. The change in stock is determined by the difference between the inflow of inputs entering the system and the outflow of outputs leaving the system. It represents the accumulation or depletion of resources, quantities, or other variables within the system over time.

In certain systems, such as dynamic environments or flow-based processes, the management of inflows and outflows takes precedence over stock accumulation, as it directly influences system adaptability, efficiency, and sustainability. Efficiently regulating the flow of resources or information is critical for achieving desired outcomes and maintaining system performance.

Indeed, A system comprises interconnected nodes with relationships, all working collaboratively towards a unified goal or purpose. These nodes, along with their interactions, collectively drive the system's behavior and functionality, emphasizing their shared objective.

For product managers without engineering backgrounds, developing technical skills is essential for effectively managing products in a tech-driven world. Understanding the technical aspects relevant to your product is crucial, and the level of technical knowledge required may vary based on the nature of the product and industry trends. Staying updated with tech trends and evolving consumer expectations is vital, and having a solid grasp of technical fundamentals enables better decision-making and collaboration with engineering teams. Continuous learning and staying informed about technology are key to success in product management.

Before delving into the essential technical requirements for product managers, it's crucial to emphasize the importance of foundational knowledge in systems design. Without a solid grasp of these fundamentals, it's easy to become disoriented or approach architectural discussions with development teams superficially. While we're not expected to perform the duties of engineers, it's essential to comprehend their viewpoints, thoroughly understand the inner workings of our products, and discern which architectural decisions can enhance the experiences of our end customers.

First off, any?3-tier architecture?in a software product, consists of:

1. Presentation Tier - the UI, with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, etc
2. Application Tier - this is where the business logic lives. Could be written in Java. The Presentation Tier can communicate with it via the Application Tier's APIs .
3. Data Tier - the database

The 3-tier architecture is a software architecture pattern used in designing and implementing applications. It divides the application into three interconnected layers, each responsible for specific functionalities:

1.???? Presentation Layer (also known as the User Interface or Client Tier): This layer is the topmost and is responsible for interacting with users. It displays information to users and collects input from them. User interfaces such as web browsers, mobile apps, or desktop applications typically reside in this layer.

2.???? Application Layer (also known as the Business Logic or Middle Tier): The middle tier processes user requests received from the presentation layer. It contains the business logic, which governs how data is processed and manipulated. This layer is responsible for tasks such as data validation, processing, and communication with the data layer. It acts as an intermediary between the presentation layer and the data layer.

3.???? Data Layer (also known as the Data Tier or Backend): This layer is responsible for managing data storage and retrieval. It stores and retrieves data from databases or other data sources. The data layer interacts with the application layer to perform data operations requested by users through the presentation layer.

The 3-tier architecture provides several benefits, including modularity, scalability, and ease of maintenance. It allows for better separation of concerns, making it easier to modify and extend individual layers without impacting the entire application. Additionally, it facilitates distributed development and deployment, as each layer can be developed, tested, and deployed independently.

This architectural approach emphasizes separation of concerns, enhancing code maintainability and minimizing code duplication. This is also called more generally n-tier or multi-tier. "n" is a placeholder that means "any number", in this case n=3.. This design principle facilitates modular development, allowing different layers to handle specific aspects of the application, promoting scalability and ease of maintenance. Separation of concerns (SoC) perfectly is a design principle that advocates for breaking down a software system into separate modules, each responsible for handling a specific aspect or concern of the application. By doing so, changes or updates to one module can be made without affecting others, promoting flexibility, maintainability, and reusability in software development.

For instance, in a typical application:

• The business logic module handles the rules and operations that govern how data is processed and manipulated.
• The user interface module is responsible for presenting information to users and capturing their input.

By keeping these concerns separate, modifications to the user interface, such as changing the layout or design, won't necessitate alterations to the underlying business logic, and vice versa.

This separation not only simplifies development and maintenance but also allows different teams or developers to work independently on different parts of the system without interfering with each other's work. Ultimately, adherence to the separation of concerns principle leads to more modular, scalable, and robust software architectures.

The subsequent phase involves scaling up:

To address the need for scalability to accommodate millions of users globally, deploying clusters of multiple servers for the web, app, and database functions is essential. By distributing the workload across multiple servers within each cluster, the system can effectively handle the increased demand. This approach ensures that no single server becomes overwhelmed, allowing each server to manage only a fraction of the total load, thus maintaining performance and responsiveness for users worldwide.

To route users' requests to different servers in the cluster, a load balancer is utilized to distribute traffic effectively. Load balancers employ various algorithms to Implement read replicas to offload read-heavy operations and improve scalability.

Load balancing is a technique used in computer networks and distributed systems to distribute workload evenly across multiple servers, network links, or other resources. The goal of load balancing is to optimize resource utilization, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload on any individual resource.

There are different types of load balancing strategies:

1.???? Round Robin: Requests are distributed evenly among a set of servers in a cyclic manner. Each new request is forwarded to the next server in the list.

2.???? Least Connections: Incoming requests are routed to the server with the fewest active connections. This helps to distribute the load more evenly across servers based on their current load.

3.???? IP Hash: The source IP address of the client request is used to determine which server should handle the request. This ensures that requests from the same client are always routed to the same server, which can be useful for maintaining session state.

4.???? Weighted Round Robin: Servers are assigned weights based on their processing capacity. Requests are then distributed among servers proportionally to their assigned weights.

5.???? Least Response Time: Requests are sent to the server with the shortest response time or latency. This helps to optimize response times for clients by directing requests to the server that can respond most quickly.

Now you have a cluster of web servers and application servers, the necessity of implementing a stateless architecture perfectly. When requests from a user can be routed to different server instances, it's crucial that each server remains stateless to ensure seamless handling of user interactions. Here's how it works:

1.???? Stateless Web Servers: Each web server in the cluster treats every incoming request as an independent transaction. It processes the request and forwards it to the appropriate application server without relying on any previous state or context. This means that even if subsequent requests from the same user are directed to different web servers, they can still be handled without any issues.

2.???? Stateless Application Servers: Similarly, application servers are designed to be stateless. They process each request in isolation, without relying on any information from previous requests. Each request is treated as a self-contained unit of work, allowing application servers to handle requests from any user without needing to know about the server instance that handled previous requests.

3.???? Database State Management: The database is the centralized repository for storing persistent data, including session state. By maintaining session state in the database, rather than in the application servers, the system ensures that user data is accessible regardless of which server instance processes the request. This enables seamless session management and ensures consistency in user interactions across different server instances.

By adhering to a stateless architecture, where only the database maintains state, the system becomes more scalable, resilient, and flexible. It allows for easy horizontal scaling of server instances, independent of session state, and simplifies maintenance and troubleshooting efforts. Overall, implementing a stateless architecture is essential for building robust and scalable distributed systems capable of handling millions of users worldwide.

In most systems, the emphasis on statelessness applies primarily to app servers, while databases handle state. Holistic systems are often stateful, with databases storing critical information like user sessions. For instance, in e-commerce sites like Amazon, a stateful database allows for continuous user sessions, enabling functions like retaining shopping cart contents across page clicks.

Indeed, the app server handling APIs is crucial for maintaining statelessness. State can be stored in two main places:

A) Database: Storing state in a shared database ensures consistency across app servers, enabling any server to handle requests without affecting the user's session state. This approach guarantees data integrity and resilience.

B) Browser via Cookies: Storing client state in cookies is common for remembering user login status or session details. However, this method is less secure as users can manipulate cookies, leading to potential security risks or loss of state if cookies are cleared or switched.

For critical state information, it's best to rely on the database as a single source of truth, ensuring data integrity and security, despite the convenience of using cookies for client-side state management.

Let's gather insights through the analysis of use cases.

Understanding the importance of statelessness and database functionality through use cases is crucial.

1. As a product manager (PM), asking questions is key:

·??????? Database Performance: Inquire about the database's speed and its ability to meet specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Questions like "How fast would the database be?" and "Will it be able to function under this specific SLA?" help gauge performance expectations.

·??????? Query Capabilities: Assess the database's query capabilities by asking "Can I query this specific information?" and "Can it support complex analytical queries?" This ensures that the database can efficiently handle the diverse query needs of the application.

·??????? Scalability: Understand the scalability of the database by questioning "How is it scalable?" This involves evaluating whether the database can seamlessly handle increased workload and data volume as the application grows.

By asking these questions, PMs can gain a comprehensive understanding of the database's capabilities and limitations, enabling informed decision-making and ensuring that the chosen database aligns with the requirements and objectives of the project.

2. Provide the problem not the solution : Some product managers have a tendency to jump straight into providing solutions without adequately understanding the underlying problem. This can result in suboptimal solutions being proposed, especially if the product manager lacks a deep understanding of the system. It's crucial to start by clearly explaining the problem to the engineer, allowing them to provide their perspective and insights. Only after understanding the problem from various angles should potential solutions be discussed and evaluated.

3. Technical debt, also known as tech debt or code debt, arises from the practice of taking shortcuts during software development to meet short-term goals or deadlines. Developers may defer certain tasks or cut corners to expedite project delivery, but in doing so, they incur a "debt" that must be repaid through future rework or maintenance.

This debt typically accumulates when developers opt for quick and easy coding or design solutions that are suboptimal in the long run. As a result, the development team may need to revisit the codebase later to add functionality or improve the code quality. Several factors can contribute to the accumulation of technical debt, including strategic decisions to test market fit, constraints related to timelines or budgets, poor software design choices, inadequate coding skills, or flawed business decisions. Despite its inevitability, managing technical debt is crucial for maintaining the long-term health and sustainability of software projects.

Example of Tech debt:

The Product Manager (PM) initiates a discussion about implementing a search functionality on a particular entity. The Engineer proposes setting up ElasticSearch/Solr with a pipeline to index all attributes, ensuring rich filtering options and scalability, but estimating a month for implementation. The PM questions if a shorter timeframe is possible, prompting the Engineer to suggest a simpler implementation using MySQL DB querying only the entity's name, estimated to take a couple of days. The Engineer highlights potential limitations, including scalability and lack of complex filtering options. Given the current requirements and timeframe, the PM opts for the simpler solution, acknowledging it as a tech debt to address in the future. They agree to consider this in the product roadmap.

Introduction to APIs and their functioning

Google Maps provides developers with APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that allow them to integrate various mapping and geolocation functionalities into their applications. These APIs offer a wide range of features, including displaying maps, adding markers, drawing shapes, calculating routes and directions, and accessing additional information such as speed limits.

By including a small snippet of code provided by Google Maps API in their applications, developers can leverage these features to enhance their user experience without having to build these functionalities from scratch. The availability of these APIs allows developers to quickly and easily incorporate mapping and location-based services into their apps, saving time and resources.

Furthermore, many of these Google Maps APIs offer free usage up to certain limits, making them accessible and cost-effective for developers of all sizes. This accessibility encourages innovation and enables developers to create engaging and feature-rich applications that utilize mapping and geolocation capabilities seamlessly. Overall, Google Maps APIs provide a valuable toolset for developers to enhance their applications with mapping and location-based functionalities efficiently and affordably.

Eg,Postman is an application used for testing, developing, and documenting APIs.

At its core, an API consists of a set of rules, protocols, and tools that enable different software systems to communicate with each other. APIs can be categorized into different types, such as:

At its core, an API consists of a set of rules, protocols, and tools that enable different software systems to communicate with each other. APIs can be categorized into different types, such as:

"Web API" or "Service API." These APIs allow one software application to request specific services or perform certain tasks from another application over the internet.

For example, APIs provided by mapping services like Google Maps enable developers to request driving directions between two locations, just as you would call a plumber or carpenter to fix problems around your house instead of trying to do it yourself. Similarly, APIs offered by messaging platforms allow developers to send text messages programmatically, while translation APIs enable applications to translate sentences or text from one language to another.

In essence, these APIs abstract away the complexity of implementing these functionalities from scratch, allowing developers to leverage the expertise and capabilities of specialized services to solve specific problems within their own applications. This approach enhances efficiency, encourages modularization, and enables developers to focus on building the core features of their applications while relying on external services for specialized tasks.

The second type of API you're referring to is typically known as a "Data API" or "Information Retrieval API." These APIs allow one software application to request specific data or information from another application or service over the internet.

Examples of this type of API include:

1.???? Weather APIs: These APIs provide real-time and forecasted weather data for specific locations, enabling developers to retrieve information such as current conditions, temperature, humidity, and forecasts.

2.???? Sports Scores APIs: These APIs offer access to sports-related data, including live scores, game schedules, player statistics, and team standings across various sports leagues and competitions.

3.???? Social Media APIs: APIs provided by social media platforms allow developers to retrieve information such as user profiles, posts, comments, likes, and shares from their platforms.

4.???? News APIs: These APIs provide access to news articles, headlines, and other news-related content from various sources and categories.

5.???? Financial APIs: APIs offered by financial institutions or data providers enable developers to retrieve financial data, stock quotes, exchange rates, and other financial information.

The final type Hardware Specific API allows developers to access the features and functionalities of the device itself. For example, Snapchat utilizes the Camera API to control camera features such as zooming, focusing, and capturing photos, while Google Maps utilizes the Geolocation API to determine the user's location.

?While APIs simplify app development by providing access to device features, they also introduce dependencies. This means that apps relying on APIs are subject to potential issues or changes in the API, which can impact the functionality and performance of the app. Developers must consider these dependencies and plan for potential changes or limitations when integrating APIs into their applications.

Certainly, below analogy provides a succinct and clear illustration of APIs:

As a restaurant customer, you're not permitted to enter the kitchen. Instead, you rely on the menu to know what's available. After perusing the menu, you place an order with the waiter, who then relays it to the kitchen. The waiter can only deliver what the kitchen is capable of providing.

·??????? Kitchen: Represents the database, which holds the valuable data but is inaccessible to external systems directly, ensuring data integrity and security.

·??????? Waiter: Symbolizes the API, acting as an intermediary between the database and external systems. The API knows how to retrieve and serve data from the database without compromising its integrity.

·??????? Customer: Represents an external system or application that needs access to the data stored in the database.

·??????? Menu: Corresponds to the API documentation, which outlines the available endpoints, data formats, and functionalities that the API offers.

·??????? Order: Represents an API request made by an external system to retrieve specific data or perform an action. The API processes this request, interacts with the database (kitchen), and returns the requested data to the customer.

This analogy illustrates how APIs facilitate communication and data exchange between different software systems, ensuring that external systems can access the required data without directly accessing the underlying database. It highlights the role of APIs in abstracting complexity, maintaining data security, and enabling seamless integration between disparate systems.

Let's explore how the Internet Operates ?

The Internet operates through a complex network of interconnected devices, servers, protocols, and infrastructure that enable the exchange of data and information across the globe.

Eg, When you type "google.com" into your browser and hit enter, several steps occur to access the webpage:

1.???? Address Breakdown: The browser breaks down the URL into parts to determine how to connect to the website. The "https://" part is the protocol, defining how the browser should connect.

2.???? Protocol Selection: Similar to choosing a ride option on Uber, the browser selects the appropriate protocol (e.g., HTTPS) for internet navigation.

3.???? IP Address Conversion: Computers use numerical codes called IP addresses to locate websites. The browser converts the domain name (e.g., "google.com") to its corresponding IP address using a Domain Name Service (DNS).

4.???? DNS Query: If the browser can't determine the IP address locally, it queries the DNS server, typically provided by the internet service provider (ISP).

5.???? Request Submission: Armed with the IP address, the browser packages a request and sends it to the servers hosting the Google website.

6.???? Server Processing: The servers receive the request and identify the desired resource (e.g., the homepage).

7.???? Response Delivery: The servers generate a response, typically an HTML document for the homepage, and send it back to the browser.

8.???? Page Rendering: The browser receives the HTML document and begins rendering the webpage, executing scripts and fetching additional resources as needed.

9.???? Page Display: Finally, the browser displays the fully rendered Google homepage for you to interact with.

In summary, typing "google.com" initiates a series of steps, including protocol selection, IP address conversion, DNS querying, request submission, server processing, response delivery, and page rendering, ultimately leading to the display of the requested webpage.

Big Thanks to Shravan Tickoo ,mentors, super mentors and all the members of Cohort for all the support !!

Somi Singh Attharv Sardesai Dev Yadav Shreya Sharan Raghav Mehta Neha Rajput Harsh Wardhan Keshri Prabhansh Rai Mithlesh Labroo Thiyagarajan Seeni Bhanu Prakash Satya Srinivas