Introduction to Mashup Development John Herren Developer, Consultant, Masher-upper Mashup Camp III, Boston MA

Wikipedia Says Mashup (music), a musical genre of songs that consist entirely of parts of other songs Mashup (video), a video that is edited from more than one source to appear as one Mashup (web application hybrid), a website or web application that combines content from more than one source

Mashup (music), a musical genre of songs that consist entirely of parts of other songs

Mashup (video), a video that is edited from more than one source to appear as one

Mashup (web application hybrid), a website or web application that combines content from more than one source

Characteristics of Mashups Combination Visualization Aggregation

Combination

Visualization

Aggregation

Combination Join across dimensions Subject + Time/Place + ... Bands I like + Where I live + Eventful.com + Yahoo! music search = nifty mashup

Join across dimensions

Subject + Time/Place + ...

Bands I like + Where I live + Eventful.com + Yahoo! music search = nifty mashup

Visualization ChicagoCrime.org

Visualization ChicagoCrime.org

Aggregation Group your data and take a measure Sum, Avg, Min, Max Create information from the data Which becomes new data itself Use algorithms as a substitute for creativity! Classification, prediction, clustering, NLP Uncover hidden aspects of your data

Group your data and take a measure

Sum, Avg, Min, Max

Create information from the data

Which becomes new data itself

Use algorithms as a substitute for creativity!

Classification, prediction, clustering, NLP

Uncover hidden aspects of your data

Why Mashup? Hobby Business Embrace recursion Embrace recursion Profit! - Fulfil the underpants gnome prophecy

Hobby

Business

Embrace recursion

Embrace recursion

Profit! - Fulfil the underpants gnome prophecy

Step One Collect data sources. Use APIs to find Restaurant reviews Crime statistics Books about alpaca farming What's an API? Hotlinking 2.0?

Collect data sources. Use APIs to find

Restaurant reviews

Crime statistics

Books about alpaca farming

What's an API?

Hotlinking 2.0?

Step Two Make a mashup (duh) Bootstrap a niche Exploit the long tail

Make a mashup (duh)

Bootstrap a niche

Exploit the long tail

Step Three Profit! 15 minutes of blogosphere fame Monetize traffic with ppc/cpm ads Affiliate programs Sell advanced features or memberships Sell it as software Early acquisition Your dream interview Win a Sun Microsystems 8-core 32GB RAM Sun Fire T2000 (insert liquidity event here)

Profit!

15 minutes of blogosphere fame

Monetize traffic with ppc/cpm ads

Affiliate programs

Sell advanced features or memberships

Sell it as software

Early acquisition

Your dream interview

Win a Sun Microsystems 8-core 32GB RAM Sun Fire T2000

(insert liquidity event here)

How? Two turntables and a microphone APIs and a scripting language Easy to prototype Easy to deploy Scripting language is rarely the bottleneck

Two turntables and a microphone

APIs and a scripting language

Easy to prototype

Easy to deploy

Scripting language is rarely the bottleneck

Development Goals Be lazy! Abstract the plumbing Don't reinvent the wheel Spend time on the good stuff

Be lazy!

Abstract the plumbing

Don't reinvent the wheel

Spend time on the good stuff

Web Service Pattern Request – Response* Similar to a database query Request == Query Iterate over response (result set)

Request – Response*

Similar to a database query

Request == Query

Iterate over response (result set)

Response Handling Usually XML SimpleXML: $rss->channel->item[0]->title; JSON Serialized Data $results = unserialize(file_get_contents($url)); YAML

Usually XML

SimpleXML: $rss->channel->item[0]->title;

JSON

Serialized Data

$results = unserialize(file_get_contents($url));

YAML

SOAP Not really simple Not really object access Not really a protocol But there is hope

Not really simple

Not really object access

Not really a protocol

But there is hope

SOAP Structure Envelope Faults WSDL

Envelope

Faults

WSDL

SOAP in PHP $client = new SoapClient("AmazonWebServices.wsdl"); $params = array( 'keyword' => 'alpacas', 'page' => 1, 'mode' => 'books', 'tag' => 'jhherren', 'type' => 'lite', //or heavy 'devtag' => 'YOURAPIKEY'); $result = $client->KeywordSearchRequest($params);

$client = new SoapClient("AmazonWebServices.wsdl");

$params = array(

'keyword' => 'alpacas',

'page' => 1,

'mode' => 'books',

'tag' => 'jhherren',

'type' => 'lite', //or heavy

'devtag' => 'YOURAPIKEY');

$result = $client->KeywordSearchRequest($params);

XML-RPC Easier than SOAP Supports typing Uses system.methodSignature instead of WSDL Popular with blogging apps

Easier than SOAP

Supports typing

Uses system.methodSignature instead of WSDL

Popular with blogging apps

REST Representational State Transfer Don't need extra layers URI as resource CRUD operations: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE Stateless, cacheable, layered (easier)

Representational State Transfer

Don't need extra layers

URI as resource

CRUD operations: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE

Stateless, cacheable, layered

(easier)

RSS In Python: import feedparser #by Mark Pilgrim rss_url = "http://feeds.feedburner.com/Techcrunch" feed = feedparser.parse(rss_url) for entry in feed.entries: print entry.title And another Demo....

In Python:

import feedparser #by Mark Pilgrim

rss_url = "http://feeds.feedburner.com/Techcrunch"

feed = feedparser.parse(rss_url)

for entry in feed.entries:

print entry.title

And another Demo....

AJAX Asynchronous Javascript and XML a.k.a. XmlHttpRequest Client side XML, JSON, ... Demo

Asynchronous Javascript and XML

a.k.a. XmlHttpRequest

Client side

XML, JSON, ...

Demo

Browser Based Authentication Login to the service, not the mashup Provides anonymity, but not safety Yahoo! BBAuth Google AuthSub

Login to the service, not the mashup

Provides anonymity, but not safety

Yahoo! BBAuth

Google AuthSub

Third-party Libraries & Frameworks Check the API providers first! Web Frameworks: Django, Ruby on Rails, Zend Framework Google AJAX Search API Demo

Check the API providers first!

Web Frameworks: Django, Ruby on Rails, Zend Framework

Google AJAX Search API

Demo

Mashup Tools ning.com openkapow.com Dappr http://dappit.com Amazon S3, EC2

ning.com

openkapow.com

Dappr http://dappit.com

Amazon S3, EC2

Pain Points API abuse & metering API versioning IP & Copyright Reliability & TOS (Monetization) Privacy, security, ...

API abuse & metering

API versioning

IP & Copyright

Reliability & TOS

(Monetization)

Privacy, security, ...

My Predictions More mobile mashups More AI & datamining to supplement “user generated content” Microformats catch on and get aggregated OpenID catches on “ Attention Capital”, “Attention Management”

More mobile mashups

More AI & datamining to supplement “user generated content”

Microformats catch on and get aggregated

OpenID catches on

“ Attention Capital”, “Attention Management”

Resources Programmable Web http://programmableweb.com/ Yahoo Developer Network http://developer.yahoo.com Google Code http://code.google.com Original Signal http://www.originalsignal.com

Programmable Web

http://programmableweb.com/

Yahoo Developer Network

http://developer.yahoo.com

Google Code

http://code.google.com

Original Signal

http://www.originalsignal.com