Tag Archives: API

Pivotal Tracker launches new API in public beta

Pivotal Tracker just announced the availability of their API V5 in public beta, starting August 16, 2013. The launch is justified because the application itself has run against the new API version for a long time now.

photo by John Fischer

The new API introduces several improvements, like the ability to get access to all project data, including epics. They also say that everything in and out of the API is now JSON encoded but the activity Web Hooks still POST information using XML.

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Evernote introduces API Rate Limits

Evernote recently announced that they will enforce API rate limits starting today (August 14, 2013). They don’t specify what the limits are but they say that a “reasonable use of the API should not cause an integration to hit the limit”.

photo by Justin Ennis

Although this enforcement will only affect non-production applications for now, you should evaluate your code even if you have a production API integration, since rate limiting will also affect these applications starting November 1, 2013.

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HTTP/2.0 Initial Draft Released

The first implementable draft of HTTP/2.0 was released on July 8th by the HTTPbis working group of the IETF. The 2.0 version of HTTP is based on the SPDY protocol developed by Google — in fact, the initial draft was a copy of the SPDY specification as a base for diffs.

Photo by Jeffrey Beall

HTTP/2.0 is intended as an alternative to HTTP/1.1, rather than deprecating the old version. There is good reason for this: The new version feels similar to the old, but there are important differences designed to enable more efficient network communication.

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How OAuth 2 trumps Basic authentication

So many negatives have been brought forth in the past on OAuth 2. Where there might be continuing points of contention, there is one area which seems to be clear: the “Resource Owner Password Credentials Grant” (OAuth 2 Spec, section 4.3) pattern as defined in the OAuth 2 spec is fundamentally superior to HTTP Basic authentication.

This formula describes gaining access to server resources directly. This approach might be utilized when you are securing your own resources; for instance, your mobile app that is accessing your own API.
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APIDays San Francisco

At the conclusion of the first API Days San Francisco, one thing is clear above all else: APIs are in. Huge growth in the startup space developing APIs and major acquisitions amongst the larger companies are a great indicator of a burgeoning API ecosystem. Despite a wide variety of opinions and philosophies in the speaking arrangement capable of satisfying any developers thirst for insight, one common theme prevailed: APIs are a critical component of any modern development strategy.

API Economy Panel – Image by Michael Pratt

Rather than providing a simple recap, let’s touch on a few of the most important and emerging topics discussed.

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