I gave a presentation to RORO in Sydney on 2009-02-17 about Yahoo! Query Language (YQL) and why I think it's hot. I wound up with a couple of demos including the new version of the GitHub Activity Badge and a Flickr slideshow site I built just for the presentation called StreamSlide.

1. YQL
(and its hotness)

2. YQL is Yahoo!
Query Language

3. Yahoo! calls it:

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

5. I call it:

6. An API for the
public internet.

7. I think my
description is a bit
more catchy.

8. YQL offers a
SQL-like syntax.

9. SELECT *
FROM search.web
WHERE query=quot;rubyquot;

10. Look familiar?

11. SELECT what
FROM table
WHERE filter

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

13. SELECT *
FROM search.web
WHERE query=quot;rubyquot;

14. You can SELECT
specific elements
or objects.

15. SELECT title
FROM search.web
WHERE query=quot;rubyquot;

16. WHERE filters have
lots of operators.

17. = =! > < <= >=
IN LIKE IS NULL
IS NOT NULL
AND OR

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

19. What is a YQL
table?

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

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

22. Tables are defined
in XML.

23. <?xml version=quot;1.0quot; encoding=quot;UTF-8quot;?>
<table xmlns=quot;http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/schema/table.xsdquot;>
<meta>
<author>Paul Daniel</author>
<documentationURL>http://apiwiki.twitter.com/REST+API
+Documentation#show</documentationURL>
</meta>
<bindings>
<select itemPath=quot;feed.entryquot; produces=quot;XMLquot;>
<urls>
<url>http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/{id}.atom</url>
</urls>
<paging model=quot;pagequot;>
<start default=quot;0quot; id=quot;pagequot;/>
<pagesize max=quot;200quot; id=quot;countquot;/>
<total default=quot;20quot;/>
</paging>
<inputs>
<key id=quot;sincequot; type=quot;xs:stringquot; paramType=quot;queryquot; />
<key id=quot;since_idquot; type=quot;xs:stringquot; paramType=quot;queryquot; />
<key id=quot;idquot; type=quot;xs:stringquot; paramType=quot;pathquot; required=quot;truequot;/>
</inputs>
</select>
</bindings>
</table>

24. You can write your
own.

25. And share them for
others to use.

26. SHOW tables
DESC table

28. What’s the output?

29. <?xml version=quot;1.0quot; encoding=quot;UTF-8quot;?>
<query xmlns:yahoo=quot;http://www.yahooapis.com/v1/base.rngquot; yahoo:count=quot;10quot;
yahoo:created=quot;2009-02-11T03:16:48Zquot; yahoo:lang=quot;en-USquot;
yahoo:updated=quot;2009-02-11T03:16:48Zquot; yahoo:uri=quot;http://
query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?q=SELECT+*+%0AFROM+search.web+WHERE+query%3D
%22ruby%22quot;>
<diagnostics>
<publiclyCallable>true</publiclyCallable>
<url execution-time=quot;116quot;>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=quot;http://www.inktomi.com/quot;>
<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>

30. {
quot;queryquot;:
{
quot;countquot;:quot;10quot;,
quot;createdquot;:quot;2009-02-11T03:20:22Zquot;,
quot;langquot;:quot;en-USquot;,
quot;updatedquot;:quot;2009-02-11T03:20:22Zquot;,
quot;uriquot;:quot;http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?
q=SELECT+*+%0AFROM+search.web+WHERE+query%3D
%22ruby%22quot;,
quot;diagnosticsquot;:
{
quot;publiclyCallablequot;:quot;truequot;,
quot;urlquot;:
{
quot;execution-timequot;:quot;109quot;,

31. Specify callback
with ‘callback’
for JSON-P.

32. call({
quot;queryquot;:
{
quot;countquot;:quot;10quot;,
quot;createdquot;:quot;2009-02-11T03:20:22Zquot;,
quot;langquot;:quot;en-USquot;,
quot;updatedquot;:quot;2009-02-11T03:20:22Zquot;,
quot;uriquot;:quot;http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?
q=SELECT+*+%0AFROM+search.web+WHERE+query%3D
%22ruby%22quot;,
quot;diagnosticsquot;:
{
quot;publiclyCallablequot;:quot;truequot;,
quot;urlquot;:
{
quot;execution-timequot;:quot;109quot;,

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

34. Where is all this?

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

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

38. Examples

39. I converted the
GitHub Activity
Badge today.

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

41. Oh!
And I built this...

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

43. Thank you

44. http://lachstock.com.au