Telepathy and API

I am always fascinated by stories of Rishi’s and Muni’s who have this unbelievable ability to speak amongst themselves without really talking, in fact without using any of their sensory organs. I am told they can even communicate long distance. It is really flabbergasting. It dawned on me only recently () that this is so similar to Software interfaces. I then thought it is worth a try to write-up here.

Typically any software comes with a user interface for end users to use. It is normally built with the intent to help end users not worry about the nuances of the software but focus on what they know the best - their domain. Example - the act of picking and buying topping for a pizza given a list of option etc. The User interface makes it easy for the end users to use the software. The usability area in software in itself has grown leaps and bounds, taking the whole question of software documentation out of whack. Now a days, a small kid can use software without even knowing how to read or write. The user interfaces are made so user friendly, that at some point in time, we forget that this is software. This is one feature that has made us think that the statement “Software is eating the world” is so true. Whenever we talk about software, we normally look at this, define the software by the way it looks and feels. Essentially these are sensory organs of a software program and becomes a key interface for us to use any software.

Along side of this evolution, there is another way of interface that has developed called Application programming interface. Application programming Interface, or API, as it popularly known as, is a way to interface with software without its user interface. This makes it easier for two software systems to talk to each other as they need not know the nuances of User interface. In that context, API acts as a system interface. This enable software systems to talk to each other. With cloud and connectivity becoming a ubiquitous feature, this interface has grown into machine to machine programming and further as internet of things (IOT). IOT is an area where things (equipments) can talk to each other via these interfaces given that they are connected and talk to each other. A fridge talking to a power unit to switch off when there is nothing kept inside is a use case that is very much possible today. The importance of API in this line of innovation is astounding.

While APIs have been there, the ubiquitous cloud and connectivity was the missing link. With that now available in plenty, we are in for a much greater innovation in the world of Machine to Machine automation and Internet of things. It is only now we are realising that APIs are far more important that the standard user interfaces that we are used to, to take software automation to a much greater heights.

Back to the topic of Telepathy, If you look at us, we use sensory organs as the only way to interact with the external environments, just like software uses user Interface. However, the ultimate mode of communication is via API where you do not use sensory organs but the expose the APIs in your body such that the person who understands your API-constructs can communicate with you. I guess this is what the Rishi’s and Muni’s had mastered which made them understand beyond what you would say or show.

We have along way to go to reach the heights of our ancestors!