

An Introduction to APIs - ASquare
https://zapier.com/learn/apis/

======
OWaz
I find the layout to be very refreshing. Whoever put it together did a pretty
sweet job since it doesn't feel like reading the usual technical guide on how
to use XYZ.

------
unreal37
Love this! More companies should do this. Teach your customers how to use your
product.

~~~
tdaltonc
Reminds me of this:
[http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/apis](http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/apis)

------
myth_drannon
I really respect these guys for taking on one of the most soul sucking dev
jobs which is API integration and make it work. And they integrate hundreds of
APIs! I would just go crazy if it was my day job.

~~~
bryanh
Well, we are hiring! ;-)

[https://zapier.com/blog/help-automate-business-zapier-
jobs-a...](https://zapier.com/blog/help-automate-business-zapier-jobs-and-
careers/)

------
MicroBerto
Great document, so I'll bite, since they deserve it:

What is this Zapier really? What are some examples of what it can do?

These services that basically sound something like "With our tools, you can do
_anything_ with data!!" always confuse me.

Until otherwise convinced, I'm of the opinion that if you can do "everything",
you do nothing.

~~~
AndyBaker
They connect APIs.

They've defined a bunch of methods for popular APIs. You can then pipe the
results into another API.

e.g. Watch Disqus comments and auto send thank you mail

Send email attachments to your Dropbox

Create Trello cards from Evernote items

Checkout the Directory, then click on an item - you'll see all the possible
interactions:

[https://zapier.com/zapbook/](https://zapier.com/zapbook/)

~~~
MicroBerto
[https://zapier.com/zapbook/](https://zapier.com/zapbook/)

Oh wow, that's what I needed to see. Impressive. Almost overwhelming! Thanks

------
noel82
very well written and refreshing as others said. +1 absolutely!

------
ycmike
This is beyond useful.

------
vishal_biyani
Shameless plug: Wrote recently about how API, platform thinking are changing
the business in ways not imagined: [http://www.vishalbiyani.com/api-
economy/](http://www.vishalbiyani.com/api-economy/)

------
TonyNib
Really nice presentation. Clear, professional, interesting and useful.

------
jayvanguard
Nicely done.

------
mantrax3
Hey I like how they've blurred this DKJX3-7KBW5-237BT-K22TX-6XG7J key here in
Chapter 5:

[https://zapier.cachefly.net/static/CplbOk/images/learn/apis/...](https://zapier.cachefly.net/static/CplbOk/images/learn/apis/ch5-product-
key.png)

... beyond any recognition!

~~~
recentdarkness
Honestly I am not sure if it is such a good idea to post a license key for
Windows 8 in public like that. I really hope it's fake ;)

------
mycodebreaks
The section on OAuth needs to be made better.

~~~
bryanh
Of course, there is a lot of nuance in the OAuth spec(s), but we didn't feel
the need to be that verbose for an "An Introduction to APIs". We'd love to
hear more about what broad but important aspect of OAuth that we missed! We'll
absolutely make revisions and updates.

~~~
thmcmahon
Completely agree - that's the first time I've read a guide to oauth and
actually understood it. So big thanks from me.

------
eddieroger
Looks cool, but I really get a little tweaked when incomplete things are
shared like this. To me, it's not useful if I can't read through and work the
whole guide, which leaves this one somewhere between email-bait to get updates
on the end or just regularly incomplete.

~~~
stronglikedan
I see it as more of a multi-part blog series, where you can read the first few
parts and wait for the rest, or you can wait until all parts have been written
and read it all. In this case, it's better than a blog series, because you can
be notified as soon as it's complete without having to keep checking back.

