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rulesio edited this page Nov 30, 2012 · 30 revisions

A Saner (and Geekier!) Approach to Working with APIs

What is this?

Working with APIs can be a nuisance, because you have to

  • study the API documentation (often complex, or poorly written)
  • find and evaluate available libraries for using the API
  • write code that couples your application with the API -- or define an abstraction layer
  • worry about the performance impact of making synchronous API calls -- or put in place a framework for background jobs
  • decide how to handle errors

We make all of this easier. Geekier provides

  • machine-readable API descriptions, created by experts and organized around how to use these APIs to get things done
  • a simple abstraction layer to use in your code, avoiding vendor lock-in and providing lots of flexibility
  • a service framework that actually makes API calls
  • easily customized hooks for logging, retry policies, error reporting, and analytics

Can I see an example?

Example.

This reminds me of SPORE ...

Our API descriptions are based on SPORE. We extend SPORE, allowing you to specify

  • how authentication is done (e.g., oauth)
  • expected errors
  • valid parameter types (e.g., integer, string)
  • valid parameter values (e.g., 'html', 'text')

These extensions make it possible to build user-friendly interfaces for specifying API calls, without knowing in advance which APIs might be involved. For example, a monitoring application might want to include a form for setting up alerts. Rather than offering a limited choice of email or SMS, for example, the application could allow the alert to be sent via any of the Geekier APIs, and use the info in the API descriptions to build a fully functional form, including validations.

How can I help?

If you believe that an interoperable web needs a open framework for connecting applications and services based on self-describing APIs, join us!

Extending the reach of Geekier benefits the entire community. You can do this by contributing new API descriptions, or libraries making Geekier accessible from other programming languages (so far we've got Ruby covered). Email us at [email protected] if you'd like to get involved.

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