Please join us for the following tech talk:
*Tech Talk**:* A developer's-eye view of API client libraries: how to
choose them, how to make them, how to make them better
*Presenter:* Frances Hocutt
*Date:* January 6
*Time:* 1830 UTC
<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=tech+talk%3A+API+client+libraries&iso=20150106T1830&p1=%3A&am=30>
Link to live YouTube stream <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz__duVeaWY>
*IRC channel for questions/discussion:* #wikimedia-office
Google+ page
<https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/103470172168784626509/events/c8fnclmkeam2gbrng1cn0g99mi0>,
another
place for questions
*Talk description: *This talk will cover why developers do (and don't) use
any of the
wide variety of client libraries available to get and post data
through the MediaWiki API. We'll talk about writing tools with an eye
to developer experience, go through the "gold standard" for MediaWiki
API client libraries
(
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Client_code/Gold_standard) and the
thinking behind it, and share some of the resources available for both
library writers and library users.
If you write or maintain an API client library, you'll learn about
what you can do to help your library get out of the way and let
developers who work with it spend their mental energy on putting
together exciting projects, not on fighting with tools. If you work
with the MediaWiki API (write bots, do research, maintain wikis),
you'll learn what to consider when you're choosing a framework for
your project. Either way, you'll start to appreciate all the factors
beyond a library's code that make the difference between fun and easy
development and a frustrating slog.