Creating Public Facing API's

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Creating Public Facing API's

• Simon Free
• _at_simonfree

www.cfunited.com
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What to expect

1. APIs - The Basics
2. Possible Problems
3. Documentation
4. REST vs RPC
5. Example APIs
6. Development Process
7. Creating an API

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APIs - The basics

• Application Programming Interface
• 2 types of APIs
• RESTful
• RPC
• Offers ability to share data and functionality
• Centralize functionality

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Possible Problems

1. Poor planning can cause poor usability
2. Needs to be accessible across multiple languages
3. Variable scopes may not exist / be accurate
4. Documentation needs to be extensive
5. Security can be tested/attacked

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The BIGGEST security threat to your API!!!
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Documentation

• Description
• Parameters
• Required
• Name
• Type
• Description
• Example Call
• Example Response
• Error Code

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Example APIs

• Twitter
• http//apiwiki.twitter.com/
• Facebook
• http//wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/API
• Google
• http//code.google.com/ (Link on the left)
• OpenOffice.org
• http//api.openoffice.org/
• Digg
• http//api.openoffice.org/
• Flickr
• http//www.flickr.com/services/api/

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Development process of an API (Ideally)
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Creating a REST-ful-ish API

• URL Parsing
• Request Type Parsing
• Xml Responses
• Requires Authentication
• Error Handling

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Resources

• InfoQ Article - REST Introduction
• http//www.infoq.com/articles/rest-introduction
• REST Services Viewer
• http//code.google.com/p/http4e/

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Thats all folks
Questions / Comments? Simon_at_simonfree.com Slides
will be available at http//www.simonfree.com/pre
sentations/ Follow me on twitter http//www.twit
ter.com/simonfree
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