ACTIVE Network API Developer Blog

Forget the piano lessons; your mom was the only one who thought you were a virtuoso. Learn to code instead. The team of hackers at Codecademy walks newbies and skilled developers alike through interactive lessons in various computing and web languages, and just recently launched its program for APIs. The course covers basic API concepts and teaches you how to build real-life apps using APIs from Youtube, NPR, Bitly, SoundCloud, Parse and more. Best of all – it’s free!

What you’ll learn:

How to use APIs
Get up-to-speed on the API basics – requests, responses, data formats, status codes, and more. After completing this course, you’ll be prepared to take on any of the following API lessons.

National Public Radio
Pull text, photos, and audio from NPR by using the APIs that power all of their web and mobile apps.

Bitly
Shorten and share links on the fly and grab detailed traffic stats with Bitly’s API.

Sunlight Labs
Learn how to make requests to the Capitol Words API and gain access to U.S. government transcripts.

Placekitten
Love cute kittens? Who doesn’t? Use this API to get your paws on some adorable kitten placeholder images of any size.

Starting off in web development can be daunting, but Codecademy breaks down the barrier by using “gamification and online tools for making learning both fun and installation-hassle free.” Not only is this a valuable resource for those not privy to programming, but also a great way for the more savvy to stay up-to-date on new APIs. Experienced developers can build their reputation by signing up as instructors or contributing course content on a programming topic of their choice.

Check out all of their programs here: http://www.codecademy.com/

Know of other good resources on APIs? Drop us a comment below!

Content Source: Ajay Ohri, ProgrammableWeb

Image Source: jeremybonney.wordpress.com