APIs and the “API Success” Book Authored by Nelson Petracek

What is an API?
In Computer Science, an API is short for Application Programming Interface. This is in essence a facilitator for an organization (e.g. a company) to share information with its clients and partners over the internet, oftentimes bypassing websites. And API is designed for computer programs so it’s usually developers that deal with this tech, though many data scientists and business people are getting involved in this promising piece of technology.

Why are APIs important?
APIs make prototyping a service super-fast, while they enable easier and more scalable leveraging of data. The latter can come from all sorts of sources and systems since APIs are platform-agnostic. So, if you were to create a mobile app that employs geo-location data, along with various security processes (e.g. for user authentication), you can do this easily using APIs. Also, if you have a website already for handling this sort of information exchanges, you can use an API for your target audience to interact with your online system, without even having to go to your site (the API becomes a proxy for the back-end of your site enabling them to access it through the app). For these and other reasons APIs are very important today and an essential part of any data-driven organization.

Thoughts on the "API Success" book
So, what about the "API success" book by Nelson Petracek (Technics Publications)? Well, this book covers the topic from various angles, with a strong focus on the business side of it. It provides lots of examples justifying the value-add of APIs and where they fit in in a modern organization. The book is well-written and easy to read, despite the large number of acronyms used in it. Interestingly, the book covers marketing as well, making a strong case for using APIs in a business project, be it as the main product or part of a package. It even explores how APIs can facilitate partnerships with other organizations and the fostering of long-term business relationships. The author, who is a very hands-on person, has a good sense of humor and writes in a way that's engaging and easy to follow.

The strongest part of the book, in my view, is the various architectural and design-related tips and lots of advice on the life cycle of an API, along with the corresponding diagrams that make this quite comprehensible. As for shortcomings, the lack of any hands-on material or reference resources is the only one that stands out. Nevertheless, the rest of the book makes up for this, through comprehensive coverage of the topic from various angles. 

How you can get this book at a 20% discount
Although this book is available in a variety of places, you can get it at a discounted price if you go to the publisher’s site and use the coupon code DSML at the checkout. The book is already reasonably priced (around $30 for the printed version) but why not get it at a lower price? After all, this is a book with evergreen content, something you’d like to refer to again and again, maybe even share with your team when building your own APIs. Check it out!