This talk expresses my love and intrigue of APIs, demonstrating where I’ve found platforms and APIs in real life, music and things like wiffleball. I have a lot of fun with this one. At one point during this talk, I walk across the stage (or room) and throw various wiffleball pitches at my laptop, with the webcam on screen showing the sharp angles of the ball. This is to demonstrate how my arm is like an API, accepting the arm.throw() call with parameters like grip, angle and speed. I also define a subset of APIs I maintain with my wife and a bonus API-ification of the Delorean time machine.

Of over 40+ presentations I’ve given, this is has become one of my favorites. I’ve given this talk at GeekyByNature (NYC, 3.31.2011) and at NSWG (Newburyport, 9.29.11).

Diving a little deeper, I use examples like the traffic light as ways humans are universally controlled. I also show the asynch event response structure through the way our brain and stomach communicate on whether we are hungry or full. It may seem ‘out there’, but folks in the audience seem to get it very well.

The best part about this talk is the extended Q&A and discussion it leads to at the end. I encourage feedback and questions here, as comments, or to me on Twitter: @chuckstar.

The following are videos that I feature in this talk: