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Re:Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without w... by jheriko on Thursday February 20, 2014 @06:43PM (#7274466)
this is a clever idea - i've had a similar idea many many years ago infact but never followed through because i strongly disagree with making it easy to e.g. abuse google or yahoo by spamming their search engine. as much as i disagree with keeping proprietary secrets i agree more that people should have freedom of choice to do that...

in that regard its nice to see the big warning at the top of the page about ease of misuse (and a refreshing slap in the face - i was thinking 'pfft some hipster forgot common sense again' and expecting not to see anything of the kind)

there is something off here and i can't quite put my finger on it though... as a low level programmer I cringe when I hear web people using API to describe some weird little subset of APIs anyway. Here I feel almost like what this does is takes an existing 'API' (http - the internet) and refactors the interface in highly specific ways to make it easier to use...

At any rate. Its a clever idea and nice to see such a well thought through implementation - but its also far too open to misuse imo. I wish the creator the best of luck... hopefully no takedown requests too soon.

Re:Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without w... by marcosdumay on Thursday February 20, 2014 @08:52PM (#7274964)
> Here I feel almost like what this does is takes an existing 'API' (http - the internet) and refactors the interface in highly specific ways to make it easier to use...

That's what all libraries do. If we can't call that an API, we'll only be able to use the name for bare I/O operations.

Re:Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without w... by stringham on Thursday February 20, 2014 @08:46PM (#7274940)
I wouldn't call http an api. Http is a protocol.
Re:Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without w... by jheriko on Tuesday March 04, 2014 @10:02AM (#7340547)
any interface that is designed to be, and can be used by, software is technically an api...

the thing i was trying to stab at was the recent popularity of 'API' as a term and the way it is applied...