APIs. What are they? Why should you care? This is a part of my Programming For Non-Programmers Workshop series.

1. APIs
Chris Castiglione
@castig | pfnp.me

2. PROGRAMMING FOR NON-PROGRAMMERS
API
‣ Application
‣ Programming
‣ Interface

3. PROGRAMMING FOR NON-PROGRAMMERS

4. PROGRAMMING FOR NON-PROGRAMMERS
Money The Interface

5. PROGRAMMING FOR NON-PROGRAMMERS
Money The Interface The task/
programmer

6. PROGRAMMING FOR NON-PROGRAMMERS
Data The Interface The task written
in
code on your
website

7. APIS
A Way For Applications
To Talk To Each Other

9. MASHUP: GOOGLE MAP + CRAIGSLIST
9

11. READ DATA
API Code Say
“Send me 4
tweets”
“Ok, cool”
...and 4 tweets
are sent back Twitter.com
Your Site

12. WRITE DATA
“Post a tweet for
me”
“Ok”
Twitter.com
Twitter iPhone
App

13. WRITE (LOTS OF) DATA
13

14. WRITE (LOTS OF) DATA
API Code Sends
Your App Netflix
14

15. APIS
JSON & XML

16. SENDING MESSAGES

17. SENDING MESSAGES
JavaScript
Request
Image data
returns in JSON

18. RSS
18

19. RSS
19

20. XML

21. JSON
a lightweight data format
used by many APIs

22. JAS N

23. JSON
JavaScript
Object
Notation

24. JSON

25. XML

27. APIS
3 Use Cases

28. Puppystream
Problem: Quickly launch a photo sharing site, without
having to build the mobile app
28

29. Puppystream
Instagram
#puppystream Facebook

30. Problem: When users log onto Sonar for the first time, It
will look like no one is using the app. How do we bring in
connections?

31. Solution: Sonar uses existing user
data from the Foursquare, Twitter, and
Facebook APIs to populate the app
with locals

32. 32

33. Problem: CNET needed a way to unify the
data flow between their various sites and
acquisitions
91
33

34. PHP
RUBY
34
PYTHON

35. Solution!
CNET developed an internal API
35

36. PHP
RUBY
36
PYTHON

37. API
JSON data
PHP
RUBY
37
PYTHON

38. THE INTERNET
OF THINGS
connecting data...
to real life

39. NIKE PLUS

40. ENERGY CONSUMPTION DATA

41. AUTOMOBILE DATA

42. AUTOMOBILE DATA WITH MAVI

43. RFID EVERYTHING?

44. APIS
for every occasion

46. LOCATION BASED DATA API

50. PHOTO EDITING API

51. “I believe it literally
took me 15 minutes to
integrate their API.”
-Brooke Moreland, Founder Fachism

52. LIVE VIDEO CHAT API

57. EMAIL NEWSLETTER API

58. COMMENT SYSTEM API
Disqus

59. PAYMENT APIS
Braintree Stripe

60. EVERYTHING ELSE APIS

61. VOIP / TEXT MESSAGE API