The term: API
 

Dear,

I not understand with the term API and CVS, what does it mean? I search in wikipedia, but i am not understand what it is telling.

AVS:

Wikipedia: An application programming interface (API) is a source code interface that an operating system, library or service provides to support requests made by computer programs.

CVS:

CVS provides a version control system based on open-source code. Version control system software keeps track of all work and all changes in a set of files, and allows several developers (potentially widely separated in space and/or time) to collaborate.

Why we need CVS is already have the stable version of source code? I saw some source file named in CVS. What does it mean?

Please somebody expert explain and give me some example. Thank you.

CVS and other version control systems are used while developing software to keep track of changes and allow sane management of changes between a group of developers. A stable release is generally some sort of snapshot of development code, when it reaches some level of feature completeness, or other milestone in the project's goals.

I don't understand what you can mis-understand about the definition of an API.

Thank. Did API mean it is an interfaces?

API is an interface. It is the functions that a program can use that the OS(/program or whatever) supports. eg if you want to write a file to disk, rather than directly accessing the hardware, you use the OS's API and call the WriteFile() function that the OS supports.

API's are predetermined ways that external code can interface with an application. Rather than needing to know all of the details of how the application does something, a developer simply uses the api to set or get data the application uses and lets the application code handle the details. It is what it sounds like, an interface between an application and a program that uses that application.

HTH

Forrest

What is good principles in developing API ?

That's a very general question, essentially it's "how do I design good software". Study, understand, do.