The What and Why of APIs
Thursday, December 27th from 6:00 - 7:30 pm
Matt LeMay, Platform Manager, bitly
Learn all about APIs from one of the industry's leading specialists
From Twitter to Facebook to Tumblr to smartphones to ATMs, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) power our digital lives. In this session, we will discuss the basics of APIs: what they are, how they work, and why they matter. We will look at the APIs that power several popular services such as Foursquare and Instagram, and discuss the ways that businesses like American Express have used these APIs to their advantage. Even if you’ve never heard the term “API” before, you will walk away with a better understanding of the secret language spoken by the devices and applications that we interact with every day.
Student Takeaways:
•General understanding of APIs
•Understanding the workings of APIs
•Understand why you should care about APIs
Level Prerequisites:
Students should have a desire to learn about APIs
Required class materials / software: None
Matt LeMay is the platform manager at bitly, where he helps manage one of the largest APIs on the web. He is also a musician, recording engineer, a senior contributor to pitchfork.com and the author of a book in the 33 ⅓ series about singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. You can find his work at http://aquestionoffrequency.com.
