"Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for APIs"

18 Jun 2011

I recently moved my IDE off my desktop and onto the web. I'm test driving two separate web-based integrated development environments (IDE):
  • Akshell - I like environment, its smooth and has Github integration. But its primarily a JavaScript IDE. I met the developers and like where they are going with it.
  • ShiftEdit - This is the one I'm using the most, because I work 70% of the time in PHP. I like the FTP access, but only has SVN for its repositoring integration.
As I was working with the Dropbox API, Posterous API, and Tumblr API today, and was thinking how nice it would be to have an IDE dedicated to APIs.

There are several API explorers popping up out there, that let you play with one or multiple APIs and generate requests and display responses. This is a start.

I would like a full-blown IDE that I can add RESTful APIs to my libraries and would have all the capabilities of an explorer, but also have access to client libraries, code samples, and other features of an IDE for the APIs I use the most.

I could integrate both my public and private Github repositories, and I could leverage the social coding available in the Github community.

Switching between APIs can be a bitch, remembering what I did last time I worked with an API, where the code is, the syntax, and more. I'm also spending a lot of time using multiple APIs, in a single script. Like pulling bookmarks from Instapaper API, generating a PDF with PDF Crowd, then sending to Mimeo to have printed. That is 3 separate API calls.

I see a lot of potential for an IDE that is dedicated to the API space, an IDE that helps us developers efficiently integrate with the APIs we use most...as well as discover new APIs.

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