Fun With APIs

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are an important pillar of Web 2.0. An API is a defined list of ways that one piece of software (or web service - they are one in the same) can interact with another. Confused? Think of APIs like super diplomats - they use defined protocols to allow separate systems to work together to do something new. If only international geopolitics was that simple, or effective.

For instance, Housingmaps pulls housing listings from Craigslist and dynamically puts them on top of a Google Map - it does this by using both of their APIs. Neato, huh?

So how do you get into this exciting world of APIs?

Let's say you're a developer, looking for a weekend project or something to make you name with. Maybe you even know a company like Google or Yahoo that you want to work for, and they have an API (both do). What should you do? Why make something cool with their API! The best way to get their attention is to show them you've got "mad skills son", as the kids say. Some even have contests where you enter your work for prizes and notoriety. Check out Chris Campbell's API roundup and the API wiki page to get started. The del.icio.us API tag will keep you chock full of resources and examples to learn from.

Or maybe you're a businessman or investor looking to find your next cool web service to develop that will change the world. Problem is, all your ideas involve the suicidal premise of competing with Ebay or some other benevolent goliath. Or they mean you would need to combine capabilities of two or more of them. Don't compete, build on top of them and take advantage of their existing user base and brand reach. Make their service better, if it's that great they may make you an offer for it.

If you own or work at a web service company and you dont' have an API yet, get on it pronto. APIs allow people to build things on top of your service that make it more valuable to your customers. You can't buy enough developers to dream up and make all the cool things your web service could do, even Google and Yahoo with their large numbers have figured that out. Tim O'Reilly has a great guide to rolling out an open API.

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