SXSW 2017: Make APIs as Easy to Use as the Web

Mar 20th, 2017 3:00pm by Joab Jackson

Externally exposed application programming interfaces (APIs) should be just as easy to use, and work just as seamlessly as the Web, so argues API expert Mike Amundsen, whom we caught up with at the SXSW Interactive this year, where he gave a talk on “evolving the API.” We talked with Amundsen about his idea of building out a universal API platform, and service registry, for APIs, and the resulting benefits it could bring to APIs (easy upgrading, greater flexibility). We also discussed previous attempts (“web services”) that have failed at this task.

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Topics:

0:40: The meaning of ‘evolving APIs.’
3:16: Mobile apps, and how APIs are consumed.
6:40: A lingua franca for services and APIs.
7:38: How would these evolving APIs look to developers, over time.
8:52: A DNS for APIs.
11:36: what the API community can learn from the failure of Web services 15 years ago.

Check out some highlights from Capital One House for #SXSW Thanks to sponsor @CapitalOne #API #opensource https://t.co/NHLCqt4Tz2

— The New Stack (@thenewstack) March 13, 2017

Capital One sponsored this podcast.

Joab Jackson is a senior editor for The New Stack, covering cloud native computing and system operations. He has reported on IT infrastructure and development for over 25 years, including stints at IDG and Government Computer News. Before that, he...