API Developer Weekly – September 8, 2016 – Issue #127
A hand-curated weekly newsletter for API developers, published with permission from LaunchAny and CaseySoftware.
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Hot Topics
Apigee to Join Google
Today, we are excited to announce that Apigee has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google. Apigee’s mission has been to build a company that powers the APIs and delivers the know-how to help enterprises navigate a new kind of business reality and operate as modern digital businesses in a multi-cloud world. [apigee.com]
What if Developers Aren’t Meant to Do API Design?
That extreme, all-is-devops viewpoint also is also problematic, however. In a previous job there was an impassioned embrace of devops. The existing sysadmins and database administrators were told, officially, that they were “legacy operations”. Unofficially, management was telling seasoned, loyal professionals to pound sand. Perhaps unsurprisingly, six months later, production systems began falling over. [voxpop.co]
Internal API Design for Distributed Teams
Before features are defined, APIs are designed, and work is started, it’s really important to have some sort of team introduction. This doesn’t need to be a long meeting. What’s important is to get at least one technical person who will need to create or use APIs from each distinct team introduced. [lullabot.com]
Powering the Heroku Platform API: A Distributed Systems Approach Using Streams and Apache Kafka
We recently launched Apache Kafka on Heroku into beta. Just like we do with Heroku Postgres, our internal engineering teams have been using our Kafka service to power a number of our internal systems. The Heroku platform comprises a large number of independent services. Traditionally we’ve used HTTP calls to communicate between these services. [blog.heroku.com]
JSON Version of Web Concepts
In a recent post “Making Web Concepts and Specs Present As Real Time Help In API Design Tooling”, Kin Lane pointed out that it probably would be useful if we… [webconcepts.info]
Insomnia REST Client
A simple yet powerful REST API Client with cookie management, environment variables, code generation, and authentication for Mac, Window, and Linux [insomnia.rest]
Stoplight Displays API Definitions By Default With Their API Doc Service
Making your API definitions as prominent as possible is something I have been advocating for some time now, something I reinforced again recently by asking API providers to make sure and show as an icon, or other very visual element. [apievangelist.com]
A Web Concepts And Specifications JavaScript Library For API Providers
For my prototype, I am going to use the Tooltip JavaScript library, and avoid reinventing the wheel. Next, I’ll get to work brainstorming the lookup mechanism, and the dictionary that drives it. Ideally, I’d like for this library to work for both websites, and web applications, and provide context relevant web concepts and specs to API providers, API service providers, and consumers alike. [apievangelist.com]
An important announcement for all Readability API users
This is a message to all Readability API key-holders. Here’s what’s happening: First, the Readability Reader API, which saves bookmark information for reading later, and which is seldom used, will be shut down at the end of September. Second, the vastly more popular Readability Parser API, which extracts article content from web pages, will continue to run and will improve. by Readability [medium.com]
API Digest #52: Adapt or Die: It’s Time To Go Big With APIs
Welcome back to our API Digest series. As usual, we have prepared a new portion of API news and useful articles. Pour yourself a cup of your favorite drink and start this Monday with pleasure. As to API design, Mike Swieton encourages API developers to be explicit about state when crossing system boundaries , which is also his own principle. [api2cart.com]
REST Fest – RESTful Web Services Unconference in Greenville, SC, USA – September 15 – 17, 2016
REST Fest is a unique blend of presentations and collaborative unconference goodness. The keynote sits directly in the middle of the conference schedule with hackday, workshop, session, talks, and 5-in-5 lightening talks surrounding it. [2016.restfest.org]
APIStrat Boston 2016 – Nov 2-4
APIStrat Boston – under the direction of our 2016 Program Chair Lorinda Brandon – is already shaping up to be our best program ever. Our three days of workshops, keynotes, fireside chats and speaker sessions 2016 reflect the maturity and diversity of the API business and community today. [boston2016.apistrat.com]
Upcoming Web API Events
A list of upcoming Web API Events, maintained by Matthew Reinbold
The Business of APIs
How APIs & API Management are Changing the Banking Industry
Brace yourselves: the change in banking is coming sooner than you expect. The world we live in is increasingly changing with each passing day, i.e., going digital and interconnected where devices not only talk to us but also with each other. Banking isn’t going to remain unaffected with this revolution for long . by Naman Kapur [blogs.shephertz.com]
How AWS came to be
There are lots of stories about the formation of AWS, but this much we know: 10 years ago, Amazon Web Services, the cloud Infrastructure as a Service arm of Amazon.com, was launched with little fanfare as a side business for Amazon.com. Today, it’s a highly successful company in its own right, riding a remarkable $10 billion run rate. by Ron Miller [techcrunch.com]
Could Red Hat’s Acquisition of API Management Technology Revolutionize Software Development Again?
This article first appeared in CIO Review. Open source is a big part of my life. So far, I’ve been the CEO of 3 open source companies. Red Hat is a superlative example of how to create revenue and maintain an organization through the monetization of open source technology via subscriptions and suppo… by Paul Doscher [restlet.com]
The Netflix Public API Was The Most Successful API Failure Ever
I have written about the continuing Netflix API story over the years, which despite shuttering their public API, is an API effort that just keeps giving to the public. [apievangelist.com]
Utilizing Product Hunt to Launch Your API
As more startups are formed, the web continues to break down into smaller independent services, increasing the amount of awesome SaaS tools available but also changing the way they are promoted. No longer are new ideas granted 15 minutes of fame – it’s 5 seconds at best. by Bill Doerrfeld [nordicapis.com]
Working Tips and Tricks Into Your Regular API Evangelism Efforts
Maybe it is something you could also open up to the rest of the community. Allowing your trusted partners, and your favorite developers to share what their tips & tricks are around API integration and usage are. [apievangelist.com]
(Un)Related Topics
Amazon AWS iOT Button Deep Dive
I got an AWS iOT Button to take a look at. We discuss how it associates with the WiFi network, how it uses MQTT, public key cryptography, and the AWS iOT service. Check it out: by timothy perfitt [proxidyne.com]
The death of localhost and the rise of cloud development
If there was any skepticism when Marc Andreessen declared software was ” eating the world ,” there’s little doubt five years later that nearly every business and industry is running on software delivered as online services . The cloud has become the default for practically every industry, from storage to transportation to communication to retail. by Tyler Jewell [techcrunch.com]
Microservices and the Rush to Become the Standard Bearer
The following two episodes of The New Stack Makers podcast were taken from the show floor at DockerCon 2016, held last month in Seattle. We interview reps from microservices software provider Datawire and infrastructure management software provider RackN. In the first interview, Rob Hirschfeld discussed how Docker’s fast-track toward its goal of becoming the new standard for … by Kiran “CK” Oliver, Swapnil Bhartiya [thenewstack.io]
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