I am preparing to head to Colorado next week for Gluecon--one of my can't miss events in the API space. Gluecon is always a great place to be, to discuss the API space with the folks who are leading the charge, but this year is shaping up to be a particularly important one. There are number of things happening this year, primarily focused around API definitions, that stand to have a pretty significant impact on how the space operates.
To help showcase the goings on next week, I wanted to walk through my schedule, which I think speaks for itself. Starting next Tuesday, May 19th, we have two events:
- APIStrat, API Definitions, Design, and The API Lifecycle Workshop from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
- Swagger API Meetup from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Then on the afternoon of Wednesday May 20th, I am moderating the API session track on the main stage:
- 1:30-1:45 - Track introduction, Kin Lane (@kinlane)
- 1:45-2:15 - API Readiness: Visualizing and Virtualizing -- Lorinda Brandon (@lindybrandon), SmartBear
- 2:15-2:45 - How REST APIs Can Glue All Types of Devices Together -- Jerome Louvel, (@jlouvel) Restlet
- 2:45-3:15 - Roll-your-own API management platform with nginx and Lua -- Jon Moore(@jon_moore), Comcast
- 3:15-3:30 - Discussion (with audience) led by Kin Lane (@kinlane)
- 3:45-4:15 - Building a Node.js API with Swagger -- Jeremy Whitlock (@whitlockjc)
- 4:15-4:45 - Architectural Patterns for Scaling Microservices and APIs -- Lori MacVittie (@lmacvittie), F5 Networks
- 4:45-5:00 - Track conclusion by Kin Lane (@kinlane)
Then after the session I am doing a keynote on the main stage on the Tech, Business, and Politics of APIs in 2015, where I'll conclude the latest talk I've been doing around where I see the space going, rooted in stories out of the evolution of my own infrastructure. I first gave the talk at 3Scale in Barcelona, continued to evolve for the audience at APIDays Mediterranea, and will conclude with a version of it at Gluecon.
Many of the core people who are working on the Swagger definition will be present at Gluecon, and while much of the conversation will also be about the wider API space, and other API definition formats, there will be some important discussion about the future of Swagger, and what is next for the open API definition format. In addition to the in-person discussion throughout the week, there will be an virtual gathering of the Swagger working group at the end of the week as well.
Another part of the discussion next week will also be around the API definition format APIs.json, which since we launched the format last year at Gluecon, it make sense to talk about next steps, and some significant additions to the platform that has occurred in recent weeks. APIs.json, bundled with the potential of leading formats like API Blueprint, and Swagger, are delivering a growing number of services, and tooling to almost every step of the API lifecycle in 2015--Gluecon is where we get together to discuss.
If your are applying API definitions to your API lifecycle currently, I strongly urge you to get to Colorado next week for the discussions. I know it is a week away, but getting to Colorado is pretty easy, and this is a conversation you will not want to miss. As usual Gluecon is proving to be where some of the most important conversations occur, in the halls of the Omni Interlocken, and on the stools in the Taproom--we will see you there.
