API Overview (continued)
The API enables the communication of data between content and a RTS provided by a LMS through a common set of API services using the ECMAScript, also known as JavaScript, language.
The use of a common API fulfills many of SCORM's high-level requirements for interoperability and reuse. It provides a standardized way for Sharable Content Objects (SCOs) to communicate with SCORM-conformant LMSs. Since the SCO developer is not required to know all the backend coding, the API shields the particular communication implementation.
There are several terms that are used throughout SCORM:
- API - a set of defined functions that the SCO can rely on being available
- API Implementation - functional software that implements and exposes the functions of the API
- API Instance - an individual execution context and state of an API Implementation. The API Instance represents the piece of executing software that the SCO interacts with during the SCO's operation.