Replying to Avatar Alex Gleason

The difference between an API and a protocol is that a protocol calls itself a protocol.

A good protocol is documented and has multiple implementations. But an API can have that too. A protocol has to specifically by created with the purpose of there being multiple implementations to be a protocol.

ISO 3103 is a standardized method for brewing tea. Protocol.

Electrical outlets, light bulb screws, all protocols.

Snapple facts - API.
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Râu Cao ⚡ 1y ago

Good explanation. I would say an API can *become* a (quasi) protocol (see e.g. S3 API), but a protocol can not become just an API.

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you 1y ago

the same way many backends have successfully reimplemented mastodons web api, while very few manage to make activitypub work as an actual protocol, as a bad actor's implementation owns the majority of the network and refuses to follow the specification