Editing 1481: API
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete}} | |
− | + | This comic describes the {{w|application programming interface}} (API) documentation for a website. Normally, an API is intended to be used by another program, so both input and output are meant to be easily machine-readable. The documentation then explains how to use the API from your program. | |
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− | + | However, in this case, the documentation is explaining (in an obscure way) that the website itself can be used as a (inefficient and hard to develop for) API. Presumably, the XML mentioned is {{w|XHTML}}. The "requested data" is the actual content (e.g. a blog post) and the "documentation describing how the data is organized spatially" is {{w|Cascading_Style_Sheets|CSS}}. | |
− | + | The API keys section is a step-by-step description of how a web page is protected with {{w|HTTP Secure}} (HTTPS). The {{w|Transport Layer Security}} (TLS) protocol uses an {{w|Elliptic curve Diffie–Hellman|elliptic curve Diffie–Hellman}} (ECDH) version of {{w|Rivest-Shamir-Adleman}} (RSA) encryption, whose key is stored in an {{w|X.509}} certificate. Normally, the browser or operating system does this behind the scenes, so API programmers and users do not need to know these details. | |
− | The API | + | The access limits section (in the title text) says that the API can be used for 86,400 seconds each day. This is really the total number of seconds in a day, rather than a limit set by the server. The {{w|International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service}} (IERS) is the organization that decides when to add {{w|leap seconds}}, which account for slight anomalies in the Earth's rotation as compared to the {{w|mean solar day}}. |
− | + | Or, explained in the same style as the comic: | |
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+ | This comic satirizes how any sufficiently convoluted text arrangement in the pursuit of making a meaning will misdirect persons from their original assumption of the intent of said text arrangement. | ||
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+ | The title text specifies an arbitrary maximum time window in which the client may access the server, but upon closer examination the time limit is in actuality the number of seconds in a day. | ||
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+ | The IERS is the {{w|International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service}} which every few years adds a {{w|leap second}} to June 30 or December 31, making these days with 86,401 seconds. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
:[Cueball sitting at a desk staring at a computer screen.] | :[Cueball sitting at a desk staring at a computer screen.] | ||
− | : | + | :API Guide |
:Request URL format: | :Request URL format: | ||
:<nowiki>http://~~~.com/<username>/<item ID> </nowiki><!-- nowiki tags to avoid linking to a non-existent website --> | :<nowiki>http://~~~.com/<username>/<item ID> </nowiki><!-- nowiki tags to avoid linking to a non-existent website --> | ||
:Server will return an XML document which contains: | :Server will return an XML document which contains: | ||
− | :*The requested data. | + | :* The requested data. |
− | :*Documentation describing how the data is organized spatially. | + | :* Documentation describing how the data is organized spatially. |
− | : | + | :API Keys |
:To obtain API access, contact the X.509-authenticated server and request an ECDH-RSA TLS key... | :To obtain API access, contact the X.509-authenticated server and request an ECDH-RSA TLS key... | ||
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:If you do things right, it can take people a while to realize that your "API documentation" is just instructions for how to look at your website. | :If you do things right, it can take people a while to realize that your "API documentation" is just instructions for how to look at your website. | ||
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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