API与SDK的区别

我试图向非开发人员解释API和SDK之间的区别。我需要解释为什么商业指纹软件供应商可能不会提供SDK，尽管他们可能已经使用了一个。

设备供应商和软件供应商都可以而且应该公开定义良好的API.该API允许其他软件程序（被写入）与供应商自己的软件组件或硬件设备进行互操作。

如果有人有更多的想法来解释清楚这一点，我将非常感谢的建议。我想强调的是目标是向不懂开发术语的非程序员解释这些概念。。

具体来说，在指纹传感器与软件进行注册/验证的情况下，我试图解释如下：

如果我是指纹设备/传感器制造商，并且不在 写软件的生意，我可以更好地推销我的 产品有：

  1. 确保我的设备驱动程序可安装在多种操作系统上
    2. 为软件开发人员
  2. 定义并提供API，以编写程序（例如，用于注册、验证）来“交谈”或使用我的 设备
  3. 开发并提供SDK（超越API的一步），使软件开发人员能够更轻松、更快速地编写程序 用我的设备。SDK可能提供帮助代码库、参考 应用程序、文档等。
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最佳答案

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.)

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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.

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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.

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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.


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