Seamus Holland
ProgrammableWeb
Contact Seamus
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Seamus:
How to Build a GraphQL API with Rails in 20 minutes
GraphQL is seen by some as the beginning of the end for RESTful APIs. GraphQL lets you get all the data you want in the way you want from an API while only ever calling one endpoint. But where to get started? Scott Domes over at MuseFind will take you from zero to hero in only twenty minutes. → Read More
How an IRS API Could Transform the Economy
If you want any kind of credit these days, you’re going to get assessed by one of the private credit bureaus for credit worthiness. These bureaus rely on data from past and present creditors to evaluate your position. What they’re missing, however, is information from the IRS. → Read More
5 Great PHP Frameworks for Building an API
Developing an API in plain PHP is time-consuming and error-prone. Thankfully, it’s not necessary. All you need is a great little PHP framework to help you out. Rakesh Patel over at BCW picks out five of the best PHP frameworks for creating REST APIs. → Read More
Why Your API Documentation Shouldn't Rely on a Tool
Maxime Locqueville of Algolia is often asked what tool the company uses for API documentation. He gives the name but he’s tempted to say it’s not an important question. What matters more than the software rendering your docs is the quality of the content. → Read More
Why Bustle Switched Their API to GraphQL
Facebook’s baby GraphQL is the hot new thing in APIs promising to topple REST from its perch. But how does a newbie go about using it and what for? And why might you not want to use it? David Iffland over at InfoQ sat down with Steve Faulkner to talk about how they adopted GraphQL and why. → Read More
How to Build a Shopify Application with Node.js and Express
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to build a Shopify app from scratch with Node. You’ll learn how to request an access token from a shop and then make an API call. First, you’ll need to create a public HTTPS address for the purposes of authentication. → Read More
How to Intercept API calls of Your iOS App
API documentation, as we all know, is rarely comprehensive and almost never up-to-date. An alternative way to get to know an API is by intercepting API calls from a mobile app and examining how they work. Here Jan Schwoebel over at his blog will show you how you can easily do that for iOS apps. → Read More
What Airport and API Security Have in Common
Just like airport security, a system hosting a public API has to deal with heavy loads of incoming traffic every day. Most of that traffic is legitimate but not always. David Andrzejek explains to you how you can keep the bad apples out of your API while still serving millions of requests each day. → Read More
How to Implement a GraphQL API in Rails
GraphQL was created by Facebook to solve nagging issues with RESTful APIs like having to make multiple roundtrips to the server to fetch required data. Tech titans like GitHub and Shopify are already using it in production but many businesses have yet to take the leap. → Read More
How to Build A Simple AI Chatbot With Web Speech API and Node.js
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create an AI-powered voice chat interface in the browser. You’ll use the Web Speech API to listen to the user’s voice and reply with a synthetic voice. Tomomi Imura over at Smashing Magazine takes you thru every step so you can go from zero to hero in no time. → Read More
What is GraphQL and Why Does it Matter?
GraphQL, the Facebook-backed open source tech, is making waves across the internet right now. Some people claim it’s going to revolutionise API design and leave REST in the dust. But what is it exactly and why the fuss? James Governor over at Redmonk explains. → Read More
What to Consider When Pricing Your API
It’s no secret that the API business is big business. Over $500m was pumped into API-driven firms just last year and that number is only likely to rise. But how do companies make money from an API and how should you price API usage to get the best return? → Read More
How Cost Analysis Tools Can Prevent Cloud Computing Calamity
AWS and other cloud computing giants have been enjoying bumper profits in recent years, which means startups must be spending more on cloud computing. Cloud costs can jump if you don’t keep an eye on your budget. Casey Benko recommends investing in cloud cost analysis tools to keep costs down. → Read More
How to Write a Hypermedia API Client in Ruby
A hypermedia API is an APIs that contains links in the responses. In this tutorial, you’ll learn what such an API looks like and why you might want to create one. Ismael Celis over at Thoughtbot will take you thru building a generic Ruby client written according to Hypermedia design patterns. → Read More
Why Monitoring Cloud Computing Costs is Crucial
Handling API calls in the cloud with a service like AWS Lambda is one of the latest ways enterprises try to save on resources. In theory, you can save a ton of money. But be careful. Costs for API calls can mount up, sometimes leaving you with a cloud computing bill ten times the size you expected. → Read More
How to Do GitHub API Authentication Using OAuth 2.0
OAuth Newbies can find it tricky initially. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to get started with OAuth 2.0 while avoiding all the fiddly parts around handling tokens. The folks over at Insomnia will show you how to authenticate an API client for the GitHub API with OAuth 2.0 and the Insomnia app. → Read More
What is The Micro API Design Pattern?
Software development has moved quickly in only a decade. From deploying to physical servers, to virtualization, and IaaS to PaaS. The latest development, however, is the Micro API, which builds on serverless computing and FaaS to take API development to the next level. → Read More
What API Providers Can Learn from the Lego Developer Experience
Lego is not the first thing product owners would think of when looking for a model onboarding process. But they should. At least that is Cristiano Betta’s theory over at his blog, who will tell you the lessons you can learn for your API from the Lego onboarding experience. → Read More
Why Many Developers Choose Kubernetes' Over AWS for Managing Containers
AWS is running scared of Kubernetes as it becomes the industry standard for managing containers. Why? The open-source platform gives companies a way to run apps across different clouds not just on AWS. Matt Asay over at Tech Republic provides the details. → Read More
How Starbucks Secures Their API, and How One Developer Cracked It
From Slack integrations to coffee buttons, if Starbucks were to open up their API to the public, there are a ton of integrations that third-party developers could create. Tendigi CTO Nick Lee over at the Tendigi blog couldn’t wait so he reverse-engineered the Starbucks mobile app. → Read More