Nearly 20 years ago, there was a major economic shift — from a services economy to an experience economy. Since then, the accelerating pace of technology, fueled by hyperspecialization, digitization, and the ability to programmatically control these new environments, has been quietly ushering in a new economy set to challenge every industry — the coherence economy.
Software is losing its magic. We simply demand too much from the current approaches. As a result, software developers are losing the battle with complexity, often without realizing it. More often than not, little failures pile on top of other little failures, and life for the consumer, as well as the business, becomes more frustrating rather than easier.
For a while now, what gets me up and out of bed each morning is a new and very different way of thinking about software and technology: the application network. Before I get into the why, let’s start with the what. What are application networks?
Today, APIs are an important part of how organizations conduct business––from internal APIs that streamline business processes to public APIs that generate revenue for organizations. The rising value of APIs raises the question: are APIs just another technology fad, shining brightly now, but soon to fade out of the spotlight?
Across industries, organizations are realizing the power of reusable APIs to transform the way they do business. Health systems are redefining patient care, retailers are pioneering innovative omnichannel experiences for their customers, and banks have accelerated the speed at which they can bring innovative new products and services to market.
But what about government? How should federal agencies be thinking about leveraging reusable APIs to enable more efficient and cost-effective citizen service and mission delivery?
Is it possible to have your cake and eat it too? In the world of API specs, we believe the answer is yes. We have been strong supporters of RAML, the RESTful API Modeling Language, since its inception, and we are if anything even more excited and committed about the value it brings to the API ecosystem.
Last week, we also joined the Open API Initiative of the Linux Foundation,
The battle between software giants Oracle and Google hit close to home again last week, when a Federal Court of Appeals overturned a 2-year-old ruling by a lower court and established that APIs are entitled to copyright protection. The first reaction from most people is: how strange! After all, APIs are just the specification of how a software system or service behaves – call it this way,
I’m excited to announce that we’ve recently made available to the RAML community a new API Designer, API Console, and API Notebook, built around a new RAML JavaScript parser released as part of the RAML workgroup. All of these are available under open-source licenses, and all may either be downloaded and used on your own site or are hosted as part of the APIhub.com service.
I just read yet another amazing achievement in the world of 3D printing: directly printing sand-grain-sized rechargeable batteries. It’s not that manufacturing things at that scale is revolutionary any more, it’s that we can see the path to mass accessibility: anyone will soon be able to do this. Just like desktop publishing, and later the web, and later any of a slew of self-expression and DIY-distribution possibilities like Facebook and YouTube and Twitter,
There’s a saying that goes something like: to err is human, to really screw up big time takes a computer. But if you really want to have some fun, connect that computer to another computer, and you soon have a veritable nuclear chain reaction. The key to unlocking this energy? The lowly API, a programmer’s best friend, the little enabler that placed Google Maps in the center of mashup mania, drove the Ajax revolution,
