Why bother with an API for google's CDN - api

http://code.google.com/apis/libraries/devguide.html states that you need to sign up for an API to use the CDN. But why? You can clearly use it without.
Doesn't linking to google.com/blah/jquery.js?myAPIcode mean that a new version of jquery.js would be downloaded, rather than using a cached version? So using an API would slow down my website, and not using one would speed it up? Is there any advantage of using an API? Or is it just so Google can "contact you directly if we detect an issue with your site" AKA track you?

It says here a direct link is actually fastest:
"The preferred method is to load the libraries via standard tags (as in script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js">, which will result in the fastest loads. "
Here it says a few reasons for using Load is that you can get the latest version automatically or specify a language or automatically load (or not load) css files, etc.

Given the http://html5boilerplate.com/ guys don't use an API, I think it's best not to. No one seems to know of a good reason. And Google tracking your site isn't a good reason (you probably use google analytics anyway!).

Related

Can I use just DirectusSDK instead of REST or GraphQL?

Are there any downsides to use directusSdk instead of making GraphQL requests?
According to documentation; My front-end can log in users and make requests through javascript SDK.
I would say using the SDK is a great option and is something I choose to do myself where possible, I believe that the Directus application uses it too, therefore it is well looked after 😌

Rightmove API and scraping technical and legal

I'm looking to build an app using property data. Nestoria has a free API and rules of use and Zoopla an API you register for. OnTheMarket and Rightmove have same terms of use to the letter (bizarre for competitors?). Rightmove advertise an API for upload but not download - I can't find anything for OnTheMarket.
I've discovered that Rightmove does have an API although the post code search is obfuscated by their own outcode mappings...
https://api.rightmove.co.uk/api/sale/find?index=0&sortType=1&numberOfPropertiesRequested=2&locationIdentifier=OUTCODE%5E1&apiApplication=IPAD
I'm wary of using an API that's not promoted. The alternative is scraping, which is harder technically and legally questionable, although from what I read the data is in the public domain and so free to use.
I've contacted Rightmove but got no response.
Is anyone using the Rightmove api and had this authorised by them? Seems most strange that it's open and available but barely mentioned when searching for it.
Can anyone clarify what rules/law/ethics are in place for scraping data?
Don't query their hidden API. But you can run a web crawler on RightMove.co.uk website, and it is perfectly legal as outlined in their Terms of Service under section 3.3 :
You must not use or attempt to use any automated program unless the automated program identifies itself uniquely in the User Agent field and is fully compliant with the Robots Exclusion Protocol
A web crawler like Apache Nutch perfectly follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol. From their robots.txt file I found they have elaborate nested sitemap.xml files, and hence they rather promote organized but polite crawling of their website. I was myself wanting to get their data, so I am beginning with my endeavour to crawl them with my resources - do let me know if you need access to this data.
You are not allowed to scrape their data, here what their terms&conditions say about it:
"You must not use or attempt to use any automated program (including, without limitation, any spider or other web crawler) to access our system or this Site. You must not use any scraping technology on the Site. Any such use or attempted use of an automated program shall be a misuse of our system and this Site. Obtaining access to any part of our system or this Site by means of any such automated programs is strictly unauthorised."

Google Translate,alternatives to translation

when i'm using the google-translate website like this
https://translate.google.de/#de/en/schnell
i have the possibility to click on the suggested translation, and i can see alternatives (for example quick, fast etc.)
Is there any possiblity to get these alternatives via the API ? Or does anybody know a reliable API to get a translation for a single word with alternatives?
At the moment there is no such feature. I've filed a Feature Request to get this implemented, although there is no ETA.

Why should we use twitter api insted of getting it from the non-api URL?

I was wondering if i can use the PHP library of Brandom
http://viralpatel.net/blogs/demo/Twitter.class.php.txt
Instead of using the twitter API which has rate limit.
What about using this:
http:// twitter.com/users/show/'.$id.".$format";
Instead of this:
https:// api.twitter.com/1/statuses/show/'.$id.".$format";
The 2nd one uses the API. The first one...i guess it doesn't.
So... can i use the fist one for this same purpose?
THanks.
Reasons you might want to use Twitter API:
Well documented and easy to comprehend
Proper explanation for the caught exception
Most reliable and real time results
Many dimensions to extract the data
Active community that resolves the issues(bugs, confusions ..etc). Also as the developers are Twitter guys, nothing could be more reliable as they know their product better.
Last but not the least, very easy to use
As far as "Rate Limit" is concerned, it can be dealt using Streaming API.

What's a good web-based analytics package that'll work without requiring javascript?

My understanding is that Google Analytics (the tool I'd normally use for website analytics) cannot be used on a MySpace page, because MySpace doesn't allow you to embed javascript.
But my client wants to track usage of her MySpace page.
Has anyone found away around this? I'm looking for a different web-based, third-party analytics toolset, I guess. One that doesn't depend on javascript, is at least close to as feature-rich as Google Analytics, and is preferably cheap (or free!).
(I picture a 1x1 image-based solution.)
StatCounter is a pretty good alternative to Google Analytics that provides an image-based tracking tool for this sort of situation. It does only keep track of the last 500 requests for the free plan, however.
You also have to understand that the only way to do this without Javascript (the image based approach) will not be able to collect nearly as much data as the Javascript-based tracking tools.
AwStats is a server-side that processes based on your server logs.
GetClicky uses an image and/or a script to track visitors.