You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Sign up for our free newsletter.A compelling reason to build your product and its strategy around an API. First, let’s start with a little quiz. I promise it won’t be too hard. Question: What is common between AutoCAD, Microsoft Office, eBay, Amazon, Google, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Windows Vista, Autodesk 3ds Max, LEGO MINDSTORMS and the Apple iPhone?At first glance - software and hardware, OS and Web 2.0, developer tools and productivity applications. But they are also all market leaders in their field and they all have APIs (Application Programming Interface) that are used by many companies to build businesses and products on top of them. The value to third-party developers is to avoid recreating the functionality in the base product and as a result, simply focus on creating value-added functionality.
Third-party developers also have an automatic installed base of millions to which to sell. API stands for Application Programming Interface. In short, it is the equivalent of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for programmers. Users interact with a program using the GUI, programs “interact” with other programs using the API. APIs can run the gamut from simple access to application data to the ability to do anything that can be done through the GUI and more. If you do not have an API, the question is, do you need an API? Well, in many ways it is the entry ticket to the big leagues where the market- leading products play. Within weeks of the original Lego Mindstorm debut, Kekao Proudfoot reverse engineered the RCX brick (hardware) and posted his findings online. Other engineers then used his findings to create Mindstorm tools, including an operating system and a C-like programming language. Lego had the ability to stop them but instead decided to let this community flourish.
'We came to understand that this is a great way to make the product more exciting,' Lego’s Nipper said. From Geeks in Toyland By Brendan I. Koerner - Wired Magazine February 2006. In the case of the LEGO MINDSTORMS, it got an API completely by accident (someone hacked into the hardware). The result was a tremendous growth in that market because now their product was no longer just for kids. In fact, a large portion of the people who bought it were adults who wanted an easy way to play with robots. (And tell me, who among us did not have a childhood dream of creating their own do-good or evil robot?) There are many advantages to having an API including: Converting Competitors Into Partners The API provides a way to add and enhance a program without having to get into the guts of the program itself. An API allows groups of developers (internal, partners or contract developers) anywhere in the world to enhance the product with minimal coordination. The advantages go beyond better architecture of the program’s source code because API users are actually completely shielded from the program’s internal source code.
This in turn provides the opportunity to add value to your product outside of your regular development cycle. Interestingly, users who develop or purchase products that work on the API-based application are more reluctant to try alternatives because of the investment users have made in the product. It is clear that partnerships can make companies stronger by developing synergies between products and cross-selling to each other’s existing clientele. The API can help turn your competitors into partners by allowing them to build solutions on top of your product’s functionality. This concept lets partners leverage the existing capabilities of your program and enhance it by using their expertise and know-how to create new and innovative solutions. This approach sure beats duplicating the functionality of your base product first. In return, they can get access to your user base or open up new markets for you with less investment in software development from either side. A few years ago, the Autodesk Revit product design team was doing a workflow analysis to see where users were wasting the most amount of time.
They noticed that printing large drawings was taking a lot of time and had many problems. When the team assessed the problem, they realized that even the simplest solution could not be completed in time for the current release and waiting for the subsequent release was unacceptable. They decided to expose a few new APIs related to printing and create an Add-in using the Revit API. It was made available in between the releases. The add-in quickly became one of the most popular add-in downloads for the product. The API let the Revit team address a problem quickly and push value out to the users rather than making them wait for the next release. An interesting by-product of the new API was that three different companies used the same API to create their own products too, building more value on top of Revit. As you have probably figured out, the API lets one build on top of a product and expands its capabilities. An API opens up the opportunity for ways to tap into markets and geographies you would not otherwise have the resources or expertise to get into.
The ability to have your product “countrified” with not just translation but also with features and content relevant to that market can be a very compelling offering in a new market. An API offers the possibility of creating or modifying features to suit specific markets and it can also help automate the creation of content relevant to your market. Simply put, an API empowers end-users by making their product do things the original developers did not build into the product. It also lets users customize the product to better fit their needs and workflow. The real secret is to create features and APIs that are not dead ends, but rather extensible solutions used to solve more specific or specialized problems with just a little bit of effort (this is sometimes called the Final Mile problem).April 11, 2014 21:23:55 scratch and lego mindstorms ev3 April 14, 2014 20:25:47 Hi,I started working on a way to program the EV3 with the Scratch 2.0 off-line editor.Source and documentation can be found on github:Currently it's only possible to read a couple of sensors, but I think it's a good start.
Suggestions, bug reports, etc… welcome.Awesome - the old NXT had 2 Scratch implementations, so glad to hear one is starting for EV3 !Imho the programming suite supplied by Lego really really sucks (to be generous), once programs become more than trivial they look a real mess and are unintelligible (speaking as someone working in systems design for 20 years or more). How they think that kids can learn well with that software really beats me.I'll take a look next weekend :-) April 21, 2014 16:56:49 Last edited by swedish_cook (April 21, 2014 16:58:10) April 22, 2014 05:40:48 April 27, 2014 16:10:43 April 29, 2014 13:50:34 June 20, 2014 21:32:03 Check out Super Tank in Phosphorus to run Scratch programs without Flash. Or try Pixie, the HTML 5 Scratch Editor from nXII Jan. 7, 2015 15:48:10 Jan. 16, 2015 22:37:37 My Signature doesn't taste good PLATFORMER click here Feb. 8, 2015 17:57:41 Is it even possible to use ev3 with scratch?
if so start a studio!Yes, he's working on it. The above post was likely clear sass. 10 outta 10.Unless it wasn't. Which happens from time to time. Feb. 19, 2015 10:55:26 March 7, 2015 02:57:10 I Have The Lego EV3.I Got It On The 5th!i go it to March 8, 2015 21:21:14 I like the idea of this project, but install is not “seemless” by any means.What would it take to get code like this included in the offline editor? The package is quite small…Also, what would it take to include NXT support? We currently run NXT, but will have to switch. There will be many NXT folks for years, though!Actually, there is a pretty good NXT Scratch (or I guess it's really a BYOB) mod by the name of Enchanting.All you need is LEJOS installed on your NXT and you'll be good to go! The only down side is that BYOB and Enchanting are mods of Scratch 1.4, not 2.0. March 9, 2015 23:40:45 Actually, there is a pretty good NXT Scratch (or I guess it's really a BYOB) mod by the name of Enchanting.