Some Fun APIs

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We couldn’t decide if we wanted to gather around the water cooler or talk about some cool APIs, so we opted to do both, while Joe promises there’s a W in his name, Allen doesn’t want to say graph, and Michael isn’t calling out applets.

For all our listeners that read this via their podcast player, this episode’s show notes can be found at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode159, where you can join the conversation.

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Survey Says

News

• Thank you all for the latest reviews:
  • iTunes: Lp1876
  • Audible: Jon, Lee

Overheard around the Water Cooler

• Where do you draw the line before you use a hammer to solve every problem?
• When is it worth bringing in another technology?
• Can you have too many tools?

APIs of Interest

Joe’s Picks

• Video game related APIs
  • RAWG – The Biggest Video Game Database on RAWG – Video Game Discovery Service (rawg.io)
    • RAWG Video Games Database API (v1.0) (api.rawg.io)
  • PS: Your favorite video games might have an API:
    • PokéAPI – The RESTful Pokémon API (pokeapi.co)
    • Legends of Runeterra (developer.riotgames.com)
    • The Bungie.Net API (GitHub)
    • Blizzard Battle.net Developer Portal (develop.battle.net)
• Satellite imagery related APIs
  • Planet – A leader in Earth observation (planet.com)
  • bird.i – Satellite Imagery API (hibirdi.com)
• Get into the affiliate game
  • Rainforest – The (missing) Amazon Product Data API (rainforestapi.com)

Allen’s Picks

• Amazon Market Web Service (docs.developer.amazonservices.com)
• We would *love* a Libsyn API!
• Should paid services provide an API?

Michael’s Picks

• Alpha Vantage – Free Stock APIs (alphavantage.co)
• Why so serious?
  • icanhazdadjoke – The largest selection of dad jokes on the Internet (icanhazdadjoke.com)
  • Channel your inner Stuart Smalley with affirmations. (affirmations.dev)
  • HTTP Cats – The ultimate source for HTTP status code images. (http.cat)
• Relevant call backs from episode 127:
  • Random User Generator – A free, open-source API for generating random user data. (randomuser.me)
  • Remember the API – Programmer gifts and merchandise (remembertheapi.com)

Resources We Like

• ReDoc – OpenAPI/Swagger-generated API Reference Documentation (GitHub)
• Google Earth – The world’s most detailed globe. (google.com/earth)
• Google Sky – Traveling to the stars has never been easier. (google.com/sky)
• apitracker.io – Discover the best APIs and SaaS products to integrate with. (apitracker.io)
• ProgrammableWeb – The leading source of news and information about Internet-based APIs.(ProgrammableWeb.com)
• NASA APIs – NASA data, including imagery, accessible to developers. (api.nasa.gov)
• RapidAPI – The Next-Generation API Platform (rapidapi.com)
• Stuart Smalley (Wikipedia)
• Al Franken (Wikipedia)
• Muzzle – A simple Mac app to silence embarrassing notifications while screensharing. (MuzzleApp.com)
  • Previously mentioned in episode 125.

Tip of the Week

• Not sure what project to do? Google for an API or check out RapidAPI for a consistent way to farm ideas:
  • RAWG Video Games Database API Documentation (rapidapi.com)
• Press F12 in Firefox, Chrome, or Edge, then go to the Elements tab (or Inspector in Firefox) to start hacking away at the DOM for immediate prototyping.
• All things K9s
  • Getting Started with K9s – A Love Letter to K9s
  • Use K9s to easily monitor your Kubernetes cluster
  • Not only does K9s support skins and themes, but supports *cluster specific* skins (k9scli.io)
• If you like xkcd, Monkey User is for you!
  • xkcd – A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. (xkcd.com)
  • Monkey User – Created out of a desire to bring joy to people working in IT. (MonkeyUser.com)
• Remap Windows Terminal to use CTRL+D, another keyboard customizations. (docs.microsoft.com)
• PostgreSQL and Foreign Data (postgresql.org)
  • A listing of available foreign data wrappers for PostgreSQL on the wiki. (wiki.postgresql.org)
• Cheerio – Fast, flexible & lean implementation of core jQuery designed specifically for the server. (npmjs.com)
• JetBrains MPS (Meta Programming System) – Create your own domain-specific language (JetBrains)
  • Case study – Domain-specific languages to implement Dutch tax legislation and process changes of that legislation. (JetBrains)