RE: APIs to work with data on the web

Laufer,

Let's look at URI and resource
  Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax
  http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986

"A URI is an identifier consisting of a sequence of characters …"
" 'resource' is used in a general sense for whatever might be identified by a URI …"

URI is not just query;  HTTP is just one of many schemes
  Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) Schemes
   http://www.iana.org/assignments/uri-schemes/uri-schemes.xhtml

Resource might be viewed as a package: many variants (e.g., several languages) and useful information to provide metadata, context, etc.

We should address Linked Data (technical) and Linked Open Data (legal) in different layers: the 5 starts are in the legal layer
  http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

Let's consider URI with any scheme, though HTTP is the main protocol and Linked Data paper states to "Use HTTP URIs …".

In a plain practical way: getting access to the data with simple, permanent, short HTTP URI is refreshing :)

Regards
(Manuel) Tomas


From: Laufer [mailto:laufer@globo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 5:30 PM
To: CARRASCO BENITEZ Manuel (DGT)
Cc: Steven Adler; deirdre.lee; Makx Dekkers; Newton Calegari; DWBP WG
Subject: Re: APIs to work with data on the web

Tomas,
I understand completely your point.
But I disagree. To me, it is not refreshing to represent a query using an URI. Think about all the groupings that you can make over a dataset or datasets.
Best,
Laufer

2014-03-18 13:18 GMT-03:00 <Manuel.CARRASCO-BENITEZ@ec.europa.eu<mailto:Manuel.CARRASCO-BENITEZ@ec.europa.eu>>:
Laufer,

Going back to basics, the four point could be crashed into two
 http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html


a)      Use URIs to name and to point into things (resources)

b)      Provide useful information as links (metadata, origin, etc)

Note that one URI could have many variants: languages, formats, time (memento), etc. So


Get the "best" variant

  http://example.com/1122



Get the useful information

  http://example.com/1122?info


Get some specific variants

  http://example.com/1122.fr

  http://example.com/1122.xhtml

  http://example.com/1122.es.txt


It is very refreshing to type an URI and get the "thing", even if sometimes one would prefer a forgetful  web :)
 http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-international/1997JanMar/0053.html


As you can see, it is a subject with some pedigree.



Regards

Tomas


From: Laufer [mailto:laufer@globo.com<mailto:laufer@globo.com>]
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 3:24 PM
To: Steven Adler
Cc: CARRASCO BENITEZ Manuel (DGT); Deirdre.Lee@deri.org<mailto:Deirdre.Lee@deri.org>; mail@makxdekkers.com<mailto:mail@makxdekkers.com>; Newton Calegari; DWBP WG

Subject: Re: APIs to work with data on the web

Steve, Manuel,
I am not talking only about the Resources. Or, what are the things that are exposed as Resources.
For example, in DBpedia there is a Resource for the album Houses of the Holy (http://dbpedia.org/page/Houses_of_the_Holy).
There is also a Resource for the record label Atlantic Records (http://dbpedia.org/page/Atlantic_Records), which is the record label from the album Houses of the Holy.
What is the URI of all albums of the record label Atlantic Records?
My question is: could it be one Best Practice, recommended by of DWBP WG, to provide a way of exposing the "Resource" All Albums of the Record Label Atlantic Records?
Best Regards,
Laufer



2014-03-18 10:18 GMT-03:00 Steven Adler <adler1@us.ibm.com<mailto:adler1@us.ibm.com>>:
Thanks.  A few people have agreed with our position below, but some still like the idea of API's for accessing Data.  What is the process W3C uses to resolve these points of view and when it is resolved, does the conclusion get written into the Best Practices draft and/or do we also include the lineage of the conclusion - that is, we we present the pros and cons and reasons for the conclusion by also relating what we didn't recommend and why?


Best Regards,

Steve

Motto: "Do First, Think, Do it Again"
From:

<Manuel.CARRASCO-BENITEZ@ec.europa.eu<mailto:Manuel.CARRASCO-BENITEZ@ec.europa.eu>>

To:

Steven Adler/Somers/IBM@IBMUS, <Deirdre.Lee@deri.org<mailto:Deirdre.Lee@deri.org>>

Cc:

<mail@makxdekkers.com<mailto:mail@makxdekkers.com>>, <newton@nic.br<mailto:newton@nic.br>>, <public-dwbp-wg@w3.org<mailto:public-dwbp-wg@w3.org>>

Date:

03/18/2014 08:21 AM

Subject:

RE: APIs to work with data on the web


________________________________



+1

-        Resources should be addressable with a URI
-        One should aim a common interface for humans and machine

http://www.w3.org/2013/dwbp/wiki/Data_on_the_Web_URI_Best_Practices

Regards
Tomas

From: Steven Adler [mailto:adler1@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 4:34 PM
To: Lee, Deirdre
Cc: Makx Dekkers; Newton Calegari; public-dwbp-wg@w3.org<mailto:public-dwbp-wg@w3.org>
Subject: RE: APIs to work with data on the web

Excellent use case which begins to explore and spell out the advantages and trade-offs of using API's to access Open Data.  I would like to explore this topic in greater detail.  My own personal preference is data access by HTTP and URI, because it provides a common interface for humans and machines.  But are there performance implications?


Best Regards,

Steve

Motto: "Do First, Think, Do it Again"
From:

"Lee, Deirdre" <Deirdre.Lee@deri.org<mailto:Deirdre.Lee@deri.org>>

To:

Newton Calegari <newton@nic.br<mailto:newton@nic.br>>, Makx Dekkers <mail@makxdekkers.com<mailto:mail@makxdekkers.com>>

Cc:

"public-dwbp-wg@w3.org<mailto:public-dwbp-wg@w3.org>" <public-dwbp-wg@w3.org<mailto:public-dwbp-wg@w3.org>>

Date:

03/17/2014 11:19 AM

Subject:

RE: APIs to work with data on the web



________________________________




Hi all,

Very interesting article indeed and related to discussions we’re currently having with developers as part of Open Data Ireland on how best to publish/use machine-readable data.

I’ve added a use-case on it https://www.w3.org/2013/dwbp/wiki/Use_Cases Please feel free to add points or pick up on nuances of the conversation that I missed. Perhaps we could break this into multiple use-cases to look at each of the aspects in more detail?

Cheers,
Deirdre


From: Newton Calegari [mailto:newton@nic.br]
Sent: 17 March 2014 13:19
To: Makx Dekkers
Cc: public-dwbp-wg@w3.org<mailto:public-dwbp-wg@w3.org>
Subject: Re: APIs to work with data on the web

Hi Laufer, I didn't know the Socrata.
Thanks for share the link, Makx. Very interesting text and point of view about APIs.

BR,

Newton

Em 14/03/2014, à(s) 15:58, Makx Dekkers <mail@makxdekkers.com<mailto:mail@makxdekkers.com>> escreveu:


For a different perspective on APIs, see this: http://ruben.verborgh.org/blog/2013/11/29/the-lie-of-the-api/

Makx.

From: Newton Calegari [mailto:newton@nic.br]
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 6:03 PM
To: public-dwbp-wg@w3.org<mailto:public-dwbp-wg@w3.org>
Subject: APIs to work with data on the web

Hi all,

         Last week, Yaso and I were talking about APIs and how they are important in all aspects of data on the web. APIs are one of the simplest ways to access and to distribute data across the web, and we think that is an important subject to be discussed on the WG.
         To talk about APIs, we obviously need to discuss about URI and descriptors. Carrasco written the first document [1<http://www.w3.org/2013/dwbp/wiki/Data_on_the_Web_URI_Best_Practices>] about it, besides there are a few messages discussing it.
         Moreover, I want to share some links I consider relevant and useful to discuss about this topic.
         Joshua Bloch, a software engineer and former Googler, published an article on InfoQ [2<http://www.infoq.com/articles/API-Design-Joshua-Bloch?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer36801&utm_medium=twitter#.UvbdCPy0BT0.delicious>] site and made a presentation called “How to Design a Good API & Why it Matters” [3<http://www.infoq.com/presentations/effective-api-design>] (other Jushua's presentation about the same subject, but the video is hosted on YouTube [4<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAb7hSCtvGw>]). These links are very interesting and I recommend to all of you, even who is already expert in API design.

[1] Data on the Web URI Best Practices: http://www.w3.org/2013/dwbp/wiki/Data_on_the_Web_URI_Best_Practices
[2] Joshua Bloch: Bumper-Sticker API Design: http://www.infoq.com/articles/API-Design-Joshua-Bloch?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer36801&utm_medium=twitter#.UvbdCPy0BT0.delicious
[3] How to Design a Good API & Why it Matters: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/effective-api-design
[4] How to Design a Good API & Why it Matters (YouTube version): https://www.youtube..com/watch?v=aAb7hSCtvGw<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAb7hSCtvGw>

Best Regards,
Newton




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