API Meetup #11, Hosted by VerticalResponse in San Francisco

Whether you are at an Enterprise building APIs, or a developer consuming APIs, tonight's speakers have some interesting insights and experiences for you to consider. How will REST continue to evolve as a standard? What new ways will API Platforms leverage RESTful best practices? Come to this meetup to learn more, and participate in the discussion.

Agenda:

5:30 - 6:00 PM Networking

6:15 - 7:00 PM Speaker #1, Rob Zazueta, Director Platform Strategy, Mashery an Intel Company

7:00 - 7:15 PM Networking

7:15 - 8:00 PM Speakers #2 & #3, Nivi Kumar, API Product Manager, VerticalResponse & Joe Takeuchi Sales Engineer, VerticalResponse

Rob Zazueta, Director Platform Strategy, Mashery an Intel Company

Taming the RESTed NARWHL: Striking the Balance Between Usability and Zealotry in REST

It’s well established that REST, rather than being a full-fledged API design standard, defines the architecture through which API calls should be made over HTTP. As a result, implementing “RESTful” APIs has, at best, lead to confused and often incomplete interfaces for developers and, at worst, led to all out flame wars. Despite this, a number of common elements in API design have emerged to reconcile the desire to expose interfaces that adhere to RESTful best practices with the need to actually get things done. In this talk, we’ll collect these best practices into a single design standard Rob Zazueta calls “NARWHL” - Noun A Resource With Hyper Links - with the intent of sparking a conversation around such design standards and moving toward an API landscape that allows for greater usability, discoverability and utility without the zealotry.

Rob Zazueta provides API strategy consulting for enterprise level businesses on behalf of Mashery. He has more than 15 years of Web development experience, three years as an independent business owner and more than two years in business development and technical sales support. He was also the founder/owner of TechKnowMe, helping small businesses develop their online presence and online marketing programs. He also has held various management, developer and engineering roles at companies such as VerticalResponse, Intuit, The Academy of Art College and MightyWords Inc. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.

Nivi Kumar Product Manager & API Developer Program, VerticalResponse

Joe Takeuchi Sales Engineer, VerticalResponse

Our Journey From SOAP to REST: Developing a platform for the future

In March of 2014 VerticalResponse (VR) made the transition from their legacy SOAP API to REST. We'll be discussing the reasons behind this shift, VR's use of the HATEOAS methodology, the challenges faced, and benefits in building a REST API to power an email marketing platform for the future.

Nivi Kumar is the Product Manager for API & Developer Program at VerticalResponse. Nivi is responsible for designing a robust REST API platform for the new and improved VerticalResponse and actively engage with partners to create strategic integrations that make VerticalResponse the best email marketing platform on cloud.

Joe Takeuchi is an API Sales Engineer with VerticalResponse. Joe is responsible for developer outreach and support, and handling the sales/business side of the VR API program. Joe is the conduit between the Engineering, Product, and Sales extensions at VR for all things API. Prior to joining VerticalResponse, Joe has held posts in Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, and Relationship Management in the SaaS product and Gaming industries.