Public APIs:

What are they? Why do we want one? How to we build it?

What is an API?

Application Programming Interface

toolkit/platform to build upon
write & read data
someone needs to write code

What does it mean

to be Public?

powers other software
we are still the gatekeepers
technical customer facing product
common consumers:
- enterprise customers
- 3rd party consultants
- professional services

What does an API "look" like?

{
    "counts": {
        "4640": {
            "id": "4640",
            "dateCreated": "2018-03-07T18:15:13.000Z",
            "createdBy": "bob27",
            "kitchenId": "7047",
            "name": "Inventory - Full Count",
            "isComplete": false,
            "percentComplete": 0.20999999344348907,
            "countTypeId": "1001",
            "participants": [
                "bob27", "bob25"
            ]
        },
        "4661": {
            "id": "4661",
            "dateCreated": "2018-03-08T17:44:21.000Z",
            "createdBy": "bob27",
            "kitchenId": "7047",
            "name": "Inventory - Full Count",
            "isComplete": false,
            "percentComplete": 0.5299999713897705,
            "countTypeId": "1001",
            "description": "",
            "participants": [
                "bob27"
            ]
        }
}

{
  "id": "1e0cd95c-eced-4950-bc26-4b0bfefdbf5f",
  "name": "Opening Duties",
  "day": "2018-04-12",
  "sections": [
    {
      "name": "Sweep Walk in",
      "type": "boolean",
      "value": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Test1",
      "type": "text",
      "entries": [
        {
          "text": "A very important VIP came in today!",
          "updatedby": "appleavero",
          "dateUPdated": "2018-04-12T15:53:00.000Z"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Check booths",
      "type": "boolean",
      "value": false
    }
  ]
}

Why is having a Public API important?

Enterprise Customers

A public API is a tool that can be used to bridge the gap between features that all of our customers want and a specific feature that one customer really wants.