YQL
(and its hotness)

YQL is Yahoo!
Query Language

Yahoo! calls it:

A “mediator service” that
enables developers to
query, filter, and combine
data across Yahoo! and
beyond.

I call it:

An API for the
public internet.

I think my
description is a bit
more catchy.

YQL offers a
SQL-like syntax.

SELECT *
FROM search.web
WHERE query=\"ruby\"

Look familiar?

SELECT what
FROM table
WHERE filter

Tables in YQL are
much the same as
tables in SQL.

SELECT *
FROM search.web
WHERE query=\"ruby\"

You can SELECT
specific elements
or objects.

SELECT title
FROM search.web
WHERE query=\"ruby\"

WHERE filters have
lots of operators.

= =! > < <= >=
IN LIKE IS NULL
IS NOT NULL
AND OR

Join tables with
sub-selects using
matching values as
a foreign key.

What is a YQL
table?

The defaults are
mostly data sources
for Yahoo's own data
APIs.

Some for HTML,
JSON, XML, RSS,
ATOM, CSV, feeds
and microformats.

Tables are defined
in XML.

<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
<table xmlns=\"http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/schema/table.xsd\">
<meta>
<author>Paul Daniel</author>
<documentationURL>http://apiwiki.twitter.com/REST+API
+Documentation#show</documentationURL>
</meta>
<bindings>
<select itemPath=\"feed.entry\" produces=\"XML\">
<urls>
<url>http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/{id}.atom</url>
</urls>
<paging model=\"page\">
<start default=\"0\" id=\"page\"/>
<pagesize max=\"200\" id=\"count\"/>
<total default=\"20\"/>
</paging>
<inputs>
<key id=\"since\" type=\"xs:string\" paramType=\"query\" />
<key id=\"since_id\" type=\"xs:string\" paramType=\"query\" />
<key id=\"id\" type=\"xs:string\" paramType=\"path\" required=\"true\"/>
</inputs>
</select>
</bindings>
</table>

You can write your
own.

And share them for
others to use.

SHOW tables
DESC table

What’s the output?

<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
<query xmlns:yahoo=\"http://www.yahooapis.com/v1/base.rng\" yahoo:count=\"10\"
yahoo:created=\"2009-02-11T03:16:48Z\" yahoo:lang=\"en-US\"
yahoo:updated=\"2009-02-11T03:16:48Z\" yahoo:uri=\"http://
query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?q=SELECT+*+%0AFROM+search.web+WHERE+query%3D
%22ruby%22\">
<diagnostics>
<publiclyCallable>true</publiclyCallable>
<url execution-time=\"116\">http://boss.yahooapis.com/ysearch/web/
v1/ruby?format=xml&amp;start=0&amp;count=10</url>
<user-time>119</user-time>
<service-time>116</service-time>
<build-version>851</build-version>
</diagnostics>
<results>
<result xmlns=\"http://www.inktomi.com/\">
<abstract><![CDATA[<b>Ruby</b> originated in Japan during the
mid-1990s and was initially developed and <b>...</b> <b>Ruby</b> supports
multiple programming paradigms, including functional, object <b>...</
b>]]></abstract>
<clickurl>http://lrd.yahooapis.com/
_ylc=X3oDMTQ4NWxyYWUxBF9TAzIwMjMxNTI3MDIEYXBwaWQDb0pfTWdwbklrWW5CMWhTZnFUZ
Ed5TkouTXNxZlNMQmkEcG9zAzEEc2VydmljZQNZU2VhcmNoV2ViBHNsawN0aXRsZQRzcmNwdml
kA253RkNNVVBEQjJIMkxjVFRsQWt1ZVI0VXl6LkNJVW1TUXlBQUFLckk-/SIG=11tsuk1oo/
**http%3A//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_(programming_language)</clickurl>

{
\"query\":
{
\"count\":\"10\",
\"created\":\"2009-02-11T03:20:22Z\",
\"lang\":\"en-US\",
\"updated\":\"2009-02-11T03:20:22Z\",
\"uri\":\"http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?
q=SELECT+*+%0AFROM+search.web+WHERE+query%3D
%22ruby%22\",
\"diagnostics\":
{
\"publiclyCallable\":\"true\",
\"url\":
{
\"execution-time\":\"109\",

Specify callback
with ‘callback’
for JSON-P.

call({
\"query\":
{
\"count\":\"10\",
\"created\":\"2009-02-11T03:20:22Z\",
\"lang\":\"en-US\",
\"updated\":\"2009-02-11T03:20:22Z\",
\"uri\":\"http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?
q=SELECT+*+%0AFROM+search.web+WHERE+query%3D
%22ruby%22\",
\"diagnostics\":
{
\"publiclyCallable\":\"true\",
\"url\":
{
\"execution-time\":\"109\",

http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/
public/yql?q=SELECT%20*
%20%0AFROM%20search.web
%20WHERE%20query%3D
%22ruby%22
&format=json&callback=call

Where is all this?

http://developer.yahoo.com/
yql/

http://developer.yahoo.com/
yql/console

Examples

I converted the
GitHub Activity
Badge today.

Took me 5 minutes.
http://github.com/
lachlanhardy/github-
activity-badge/

Oh!
And I built this...

http://streamslide.com
http://github.com/
lachlanhardy/
streamslide/

Thank you

http://lachstock.com.au