Web API's World

Web APIs World Michele Zonca

Application Programming Interface A set of rules and specificationsfollowed by software programs to communicate Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Which kind of Software?● Applications● Libraries● Programming Languages● Operating Systems Every! Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Communication?● Send/receive low-level signals● Ask access to resources● Define object and classes● Query remote data● Integrate functionalities Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Lets talk about Web!● A W3C working group to create Web Services● Backed by big companies● Early 2000● A complete standard ● How to discover (UDDI) ● How to describe (WSDL) ● How to serialize data (SOAP) Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Too complex!! Lets try something different.. Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Welcome to the Jungle Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Representational State Transfer● Term created by Roy Fielding in his Doctoral Dissertation, 2000● Deep use of HTTP ● HTTP Verbs ● Status codes ● URLs● Not a standard but a style, a set of constraints Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

REST Constraints● Client-Server (not only HTTP) ● Uniform interface● Stateless● Cacheable● Layered System Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Resource Oriented Architecture● Collection of resources /resources● Resource /resources/id Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Methods - ActionsPOST CREATEGET READPUT UPDATEDELETE DELETE (Are you using PUTs?) Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Adoption image from programmableweb Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Representational State Transfer Order in the Jungle? Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

NO!● Bad/Partial implementations● Lack of constraints● Interpretation● BTW, is not so simple Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Formathttp://website.com/resources/id.xmlhttp://website.com/resources/id.json BAD! Isnt it the same resource? Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Use the Accept header, Luke! ● Used to specify acceptable media types for the response ● RFC 2616, HTTP 1.1 ● Its hard to test in a browser Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Format● Twitter: extension (.json, .xml)● Github: JSON● Facebook Graph API: JSON● Twilio: default XML, (extension .json, .csv, .html)● Foursquare: JSON● Stack Overflow: JSON Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Searching● Global /search?q=search+parameters● Scoped /resources/search?q=search+parameters Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Searching● Twitter ● global = tweets → /search?q= ● scoped for users search → /users/search?q=● Facebook Graph API ● global → /search?q= ● scoped via “type” parameter → /search? q=..&type=user● Linkedin: by fields → ?keywords=..&last-name.. Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Results Pagination● Linkedin: start + count● Github: page + per_page● Twilio: Page + PageSize● Twitter: page + rpp● Facebook: offset + limit● StackOverflow: page + pagesize Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Versioning URL ACCEPT Header/v1/resources/id Best solution for customisnt the same formats:resource available at/v2/resources/id ? Accept: application/vnd.mycomp any.myapp-v2+xml Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Errors● SOAP: HTTP code 200 and error message in envelops body (FAULT element)● REST: HTTP codes + message Warning: HTTP Codes could be intercepted and handled by your client Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Authentication Stateless: auth per call, not session-based● ApiKey over HTTPS● BasicHTTP Authentication● ApiKey to get token● OAuth (buzzword but not always the right solution) Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Authentication● Github: OAuth 2 / Basic HTTP / Basic HTTP with token● Twitter: OAuth 1.0a● Facebook Graph API: OAuth 2● SimpleGeo: OAuth / JSONP Tokens Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

So, what should I use?SCENARIOSCENARIOSCENARIO Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

So you have your API.. Now?? Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Money● Its hard to monetize API● API = Product? A growing market!● API as viral strategy● Is there a “one size fits all” monetization paradigm? Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Monetization Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Today● At Mashape, we believe this is todays best paradigm Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Tomorrow?We strongly believe “revenue sharing” model will be huge● Its a win-win● APIs distribution problem solved?● CEO of Indeed.com: “We tried charging for our API without much success. Then we paid developers to use it and it took off.” Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

Questions ? Thanks for coming! e: mike@mashape.com t: @shatsar Kings Of Code, Sept 19, 2011 Amsterdam

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Web API's World

by Michele Zonca on Sep 21, 2011

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Web API’s World — Presentation Transcript