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A Beginner's Guide To jQuery-Based JSON API
Clients
BY BEN HOWDLE
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Are you fascinated by dynamic data? Do you go green with envy when you see tweets pulled
magically into websites? Trust me, I've been there.
We'll use jQuery and the user's input to query a JSON-based API and deal with the returned
data appropriately.
I hope to convince you that APIs aren't scary and that most of the time they can be a
developer's best friend.
APIs Are The Future But, More Importantly, The Present
JSON-based APIs are a hot property on the Web right now. I cannot remember the last time I
went onto a blog or portfolio without seeing the owner's tweets or Facebook friends staring
back at me. This interactivity makes the Web an exciting place. The only limit seems to be
people's imagination. As demonstrated by everything from pulled tweets to a self-aware
exchange-rates API
,
data is currently king, and websites are swapping it freely.
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Developers are allowing us to get at their data much more openly now; no longer is everything
under lock and key. Websites are proud to have you access their data and, in fact, encourage
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based on the data they've spent years accumulating. This openness and receptiveness are
fostering an intertwined network of users and their corresponding actions.
