Shaun Inman of Mint

Live Notes from The Future of Web Apps Summit Ten Reasons why you need to build an API APIs take a good thing and make it better. A documented means of interacting with one application from another. A successful API obscures the storage format of the requested data as well as the details of the retrieval process. Lots of uses of APIs by bloggers, developers, dashboard widgets, service providers. 1. Increase brand awareness. People don't care about the API, they care about what it can be used for. Users of APIs are early adopters, technophiles. You empower users/developers and they like to talk about that. This builds buzz around your application. 2. Allow users to own their own data. Pull data out of services, freedom to move, survive. 3. Build goodwill with developers. Saves people having to do the same things over and over again. People have solved the problems already, use it. 4. A perfect excuse for a community. Mint API lets users extend the functionality, this knowledge needs to be acquired, shared, discussed. Pulls people together around these features. 5. Solving programming problems with an API in mind can improve code quality. Preparedness for this is a discipline, clarifies mental model for application. 6. Simplify internal reuse of data. 7. Allow others to extend the functionality of your application. Eg of SVG graphing add-in to Mint. 8. Allows for alternate input systems. Desktop software like Ecto, MarsEdit 9. Unanticipated applications of your data. Mash-ups. GoogleMaps extensions. 10. Turns your program into a platform. http://www.haveamint.com http://www.shauninman.com/

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