What is an API in computer science?

This past summer I interned at a small software company and I wrote an iPhone app that dynamically generated a user interface based upon a given XML string. In doing so, I wrote a series of classes, that allowed this to happen.

I'm now trying to put this experience on my resume. Would it be appropriate to say that I "designed an API"? The classes that I wrote were only used in one iPhone app, but in theory someone could copy the code into a new project and use it elsewhere

Well… Typically google works for definitions rather well.

Anyway, click on the link below if you want my source.

"A framework is a group of classes, interfaces and other pre-compiled code upon which or by the use of which applications can be built.

The API is the public face of a framework. A well designed framework only exposes those classes, interfaces, etc that are needed to use the framework. Code that supports the operation of the framework but that is not necessary to users of the framework is kept internal to the framework's assemblies/dlls. This keeps the public face of the framework small and encourages a "pit of success," or the quality of a framework which makes it simple to do the right thing."