‘THE UNIVERSE IS PROGRAMMABLE’ REFLECTION ON AUTHORS INTENTION
The author of this article Keith Axline used many metaphors and engaging language, which gave me an impression that he really wants people to understand how easy it is to recognise an API. He is trying to let the reader know that anyone can be a programmer and it doesn’t take coding a software to become one. He gives examples to the readers of ways everyday people are existing programmers such as “ Drug developers are programmers, twiddling enzymes to cure what ails us”. This technique helps readers to vision people they see in real life as a programmer as seen in Axline’s perspective. He extended this idea throughout the first paragraphs of the article so it stays in the readers mind when reading the rest of the article.
After the introduction he talks about what an API is as well as giving a translation of the acronym (seen on the left). He does this so that it allows the readers to understand the dictionary meaning of API. However never fear he carries on explaining the meaning in depth for readers which is helpful for readers like me who are new to API’s. Another point is that API is not as complicated as it sounds as it is literally an “instruction manual for a piece of software” which has been created by someone, he is implying that if you want to create a product it is likely there someone who created it first. As an example, I am a web design student and my project right now is to create a location based venue app, therefore I searched for geolocation API’s.
The main point Axline is trying to make is that people have made all these manuals aka API’s and people should use these as they can be found all over the internet and in real life.
THREE API’S I COULD INTEGRATE IN TO MY APP
In www.producthunt.com I checked out the “An API for everything” collection and chose 3 APIs that I could potentially use in my app.
- SocialALL: This API provides you features such as user registration, user data collection. Therefore I could use this API to allow users to login using their social media accounts this means they can share and advertise venues to onto their social networking accounts.
2. Context.IO: It is an API to connect to users email inboxes. I could create a button which allows the user to email their self or anyone the details of a venue to their inbox. The email will act as a reminder so the user knows which venues they like the most as I am sure they are likely to search for many many venues on my app.
3. Tapglue: This API allows you to create a social news feed. For my app I could use this on one of my pages for users to interact and see what venues most people talk about. It also make the app more personalised as it allows users to talk about what venues they want and what venues they have picked. In addition it allows them to engage with people who are similar to them.
