Can you explain what a synchronous application programming interface (API) is?

Synchronous API is a programming interface where a method or function call blocks the execution of the program until the operation completes and returns a result.

For example, when calling a synchronous method to fetch data from a database, the program waits for the response before continuing with the next code. This simplifies logic but can lead to delays if the operation takes a long time.

Example in Java:

public String fetchData() {
    // This method blocks execution until it gets data
    String data = database.query("SELECT * FROM users");
    return data;
}

Unlike asynchronous API, synchronous API is convenient for simple scenarios where delays are not critical.