The hottest APIs Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics
Cristian’s Substack 39 implied HN points 10 Apr 23
  1. Back-end for Front-end (BFF) pattern helps reduce front-end complexity by acting as an interface between front-end and microservices/APIs.
  2. BFF pattern separates front-end requirements from back-end concerns, making the application easier to maintain and more resilient to API changes.
  3. Implementing BFF pattern can improve error handling, maintainability, and performance in an ecommerce platform by allowing for better control over API consumption and reducing network steps.
davidj.substack 59 implied HN points 06 Dec 24
  1. There are different types of models in sqlmesh, such as full, view, and embedded models, each having unique functions and uses. It's important to choose the right model type based on how fresh or how often you need the data.
  2. SCD Type 2 models are useful for managing records that change over time, as they track the history of changes. This can make analyzing data trends much easier and faster.
  3. External models in sqlmesh allow you to reference database objects not managed by your project. This can simplify data modeling and documentation, as they automatically gather useful metadata.
astrodata 19 implied HN points 25 Jan 24
  1. When designing a data delivery layer, focus on maximizing the value customers can realize from your product by integrating data into their workflows effectively.
  2. Understand your customers' needs and workflows to choose the best data delivery options like user interfaces and machine interfaces, which can be combined for a cohesive solution.
  3. Data delivery options range from BI dashboards for insight viewing to APIs for seamless integration and data marketplaces for extending the reach of data products.
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Fintech Across the Pond 19 implied HN points 24 Jan 24
  1. Open banking lacks a scalable commercial model, hindering broader adoption.
  2. SPAA aims to address the commercial gap in open banking by introducing premium APIs.
  3. SPAA enables new payment features and access to enhanced data assets for better functionality.
Artificial Ignorance 142 implied HN points 18 Jan 24
  1. GPTs are valuable for improving productivity with advanced prompts, document uploads, and external APIs.
  2. Building a business solely around GPTs is challenging due to factors like limited IP protection, competition, and uncertain revenue sharing.
  3. The true potential of GPTs lies in internal company use cases, where they can enhance efficiency and workflow automation.
TheSequence 217 implied HN points 10 Apr 23
  1. Using a semantic cache can improve LLM application performance by reducing retrieval times and API call expenses.
  2. Caching LLM responses can enhance scalability by reducing the load on the LLM service and improving user experience by reducing network latency.
  3. GPTCache is an open-source semantic cache designed for storing LLM responses efficiently and offers various customization options.
davidj.substack 47 implied HN points 09 Dec 24
  1. There are three types of incremental models in sqlmesh: Incremental by Partition, Unique Key, and Time Range. Each type has its own unique method for handling how data updates are processed.
  2. Incremental models can efficiently replace old data with new data, and sqlmesh offers better state management compared to other tools like dbt. This allows for smoother updates without the need for full-refresh.
  3. Understanding how to set up these models can save time and resources. Properly configuring them allows for collaboration and clarity in data management, which is especially useful in larger teams.
Tanay’s Newsletter 132 implied HN points 15 Nov 23
  1. OpenAI announced GPT-4 Turbo with longer context length, better cost, and improved function calling.
  2. OpenAI introduced multimodal capabilities in GPT-4 including image generation, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and vision API.
  3. OpenAI unveiled the GPT Store allowing users to create and monetize custom mini GPTs, fostering indie entrepreneurship and potentially reshaping interface design.
Mindful Modeler 59 implied HN points 06 Dec 22
  1. The concept of creating fictive datasets using GPT-3 for testing ML models and educational purposes is explored in 'The Infinite Data Hallucinator'.
  2. The 'Infinite Data Hallucinator' is a Jupyter notebook script that leverages the OpenAI API and pandas DataFrame to generate datasets based on a user-provided prompt.
  3. While the generated datasets may have superficial coherence, they are not entirely realistic, and there are limitations due to token limits when creating larger datasets.
Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots 19 implied HN points 23 Nov 23
  1. Cohere Coral is a chat interface that uses large language models and competes with others like ChatGPT. It's designed to be easy to use with no coding required.
  2. Coral can either answer questions based on its existing knowledge or look up information online for the latest answers. This helps provide accurate and timely responses.
  3. The tool allows businesses to customize its features and ensures that data stays private. It's a great option for companies looking to enhance their customer interaction.
System Design Classroom 2 HN points 10 Jul 24
  1. To handle system failures, you can use different strategies like 'Fail Fast' which stops operations quickly to save resources. But this can affect user experience because they won't get a chance to recover from the error.
  2. Another approach is 'Fail Silent', where instead of showing an error, the system quietly returns a default value. It helps keep things running smoothly, but users might miss important information if data is missing.
  3. Lastly, there's 'Custom Fallback', which uses saved local data when a service fails. This keeps the service active, but the information might be outdated, which can confuse users.
Hasen Judi 35 implied HN points 13 Dec 24
  1. You can create a simple forum with posts that track who made them and when. Each post can include basic content, like a Tweet.
  2. Using indexes helps you quickly find posts by user or hashtags. This makes searching through posts much faster and easier.
  3. Automated testing is a great way to ensure everything works as expected without needing to manually check each part of your code.
Sunday Letters 79 implied HN points 11 Sep 22
  1. Always clarify what guarantees you are making in your work or software. This helps everyone understand what to expect.
  2. Dependencies can be tricky, so be careful of relying on assumptions that might change. What works now could break later.
  3. Document processes and rotate responsibilities to avoid putting too much reliance on one person. This keeps the team healthy and resilient.
davidj.substack 95 implied HN points 01 Nov 23
  1. Having a standard interface for semantic layers is crucial to prevent failure and ensure compatibility among different layers.
  2. SQL APIs offered by semantic layers may not be truly SQL, leading to potential confusion and challenges in querying data.
  3. Supporting REST HTTP interfaces for semantic layers enables a broader range of use cases, including data applications for internal and external purposes.
Engineering At Scale 75 implied HN points 11 Feb 24
  1. API Gateway acts as an intermediary in microservices, handling client requests, and routing them to the appropriate microservices, simplifying communication for clients.
  2. API Gateway enhances security by authenticating and authorizing requests, provides rate-limiting to prevent attacks, and improves performance through caching and protocol conversion.
  3. Downsides of API Gateways include increased latency due to an extra hop, potential single point of failure, and added complexity to the system architecture.
Mythical AI 19 implied HN points 10 Mar 23
  1. The post covers the best speech to text apps you can try today like Apple Dictation, Otter.ai, and Descript.
  2. It provides an overview of free open-source speech to text models you can use, like Whisper and Vosk.
  3. The post also lists paid speech to text APIs, such as Deepgram, AssemblyAI, and Google Speech-to-Text, with their pricing and features.
The Down Round 19 implied HN points 30 Mar 23
  1. There's value in playing defense against generative AI for enterprises
  2. Start by using LLMs in internal software development before customer-facing products
  3. The model builders for LLMs may not have a significant advantage long-term
Maximum Tinkering 19 implied HN points 28 Apr 23
  1. ChatGPT is introducing Plugins to connect external programs, opening new business opportunities.
  2. Great distribution channels like ChatGPT Plugins are rare due to needing a large audience first.
  3. Building ChatGPT Plugins reveals challenges with API assumptions and points towards a more natural language API future.
Ian Johnson 19 implied HN points 19 Jul 23
  1. Product builders face pain points in areas like integrating APIs and managing data
  2. Developers often struggle with UI/UX design and adding new features to their products
  3. Common challenges like these show potential for offering outsourced services to help developers focus on core tasks
healthviva 19 implied HN points 06 Jul 23
  1. Digital transformation in healthcare is being driven by evolving patient expectations, interoperability challenges, and a shift towards value-based care.
  2. API-led innovation empowers patients to access health data, helps providers improve care through data sharing, and assists payors in streamlining operations.
  3. Challenges in digital healthcare transformation include API security, scalability, maintenance, and regulatory compliance, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach.
The API Changelog 1 implied HN point 07 Jan 26
  1. Treat API-as-a-Product as a journey, not a final destination. Most teams start with quick, use-case APIs and need deliberate practices to evolve toward reusable, product-grade APIs.
  2. Keep gateways limited to simple infrastructure tasks like protocol or format transformations. Avoid encoding business authorization or core decision logic in the gateway; those belong in identity providers or backend services.
  3. Use a framework like the Data Interface Quadrants to classify APIs as raw data, composed, BFFs, or reusable data products. Classifying APIs makes their purpose measurable and guides what you must change to make them reusable and consumable by others.
Technology Made Simple 59 implied HN points 11 Apr 22
  1. Rate limiters are crucial for controlling traffic and preventing system crashes.
  2. Different kinds of rate limiters like Request Rate Limiter and Concurrent Rate Limiter serve specific purposes.
  3. Rate limiters help protect against attacks, manage costs, and ensure high-priority tasks are handled efficiently.
Slalom dev blog 8 HN points 10 Feb 24
  1. The development of a custom runtime is crucial for safely running AI-generated code, focusing on simplicity and user control.
  2. Key features like pausing processes, green threads with backtracking, syntactic continuations, and fair resource management are essential for efficient operation.
  3. Building a reliable runtime for AI-generated code involves creating APIs that prevent potential user errors, allowing for undoable actions and permission-seeking processes.
Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM 19 implied HN points 21 Jun 23
  1. OpenAI has integrated a new feature called function calling into its models, which makes conversations more dynamic and interactive. This upgrade shows how AI is constantly improving.
  2. The integration of this feature has caused some debate about whether OpenAI is borrowing too much from the open-source community, particularly from a project called LangChain.
  3. Experts believe LangChain will still thrive despite OpenAI's updates, as it offers unique functionalities that may not be replicated in the OpenAI API.
The API Changelog 1 implied HN point 31 Dec 25
  1. Workflows turn abstract CRUD APIs into meaningful, user-focused operations by combining multiple low-level requests into a single higher-level action.
  2. A workflow operation like “onboard” can hide database details, perform lookups and validations, and make integration much easier for consumers.
  3. Workflows let teams adapt generic APIs to real use cases and prototype new operations quickly, and they enable non-technical people to define or iterate on behaviors without changing the underlying API.
davidj.substack 107 implied HN points 29 Mar 23
  1. Semantic layers reduce repetitive code by providing a consistent framework for queries.
  2. Semantic layers enhance data security by controlling access and reducing accidental exposure of sensitive data.
  3. A semantic layer defines entities and structures, while a metrics layer is a subset that focuses mainly on defining data models.
Rod’s Blog 19 implied HN points 09 Jan 23
  1. You can query HaveIBeenPwned using a Microsoft Sentinel Playbook. This enables you to check if email addresses associated with an Incident have been compromised in data breaches.
  2. There is a fee of $3.50 per month to use the HaveIBeenPwned API, but you can pay for a single month to test its value.
  3. Ensure you obtain the API key before deploying the Playbook and make sure to properly connect accounts and input the API key in the designated field.
The API Changelog 6 implied HN points 18 Jul 25
  1. Mock data is important for making good API documentation and for testing. You can use random data or tools like Faker to make it look realistic.
  2. Adding too much mock data can make your API documents very large. Using overlays lets you keep the original API document clean while still providing examples.
  3. Overlays can add, change, or remove information in your API definition without affecting the main document. This way, you can customize it for different needs without causing issues for users.
!important 43 implied HN points 08 Mar 24
  1. Browser extensions are vital for privacy and security, not just add-ons.
  2. The open web is like driving a car, with web browsers and extensions playing key protective roles.
  3. It's crucial to monitor extension ownership changes to protect users from potential risks.
davidj.substack 83 implied HN points 05 Apr 23
  1. Semantic layers are crucial for governance, security, accessibility, and developer experience benefits in data analytics.
  2. Standalone semantic layers offer more flexibility and serve multiple use cases compared to semantic layers built into BI tools.
  3. Different standalone semantic layer options like Cube, AtScale, dbt/MetricFlow, and Looker Modeller provide unique features and cater to varying needs in data modeling and analytics.
Open-Meteo 70 implied HN points 12 Jun 23
  1. API subscription plans cater to both commercial and non-commercial users.
  2. Paid API subscriptions support platform growth and performance.
  3. Paid subscriptions offer dedicated API nodes for increased reliability and speed.
Sarah's Newsletter 3 HN points 17 Apr 24
  1. Webhooks provide a plug-and-play interface for event-driven workflows, making automation in marketing efficient and scalable.
  2. Webhooks are useful when immediate automated responses are needed to events from the outside world, and relying on batch implementations would be inefficient.
  3. Effectively implementing webhooks requires observability through alerts, in-depth logs, centralized deployment, and proper scale to avoid operational challenges.
Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots 19 implied HN points 11 Apr 23
  1. ChatGPT is more than just a large language model; it's a conversational service that uses AI to manage conversations and gather data from different sources.
  2. Plugins allow ChatGPT to connect with other applications, making it more versatile and capable of performing various tasks, similar to apps in an app store.
  3. Using the ChatGPT API requires understanding specific formats for input and output, which helps in building custom applications with the AI.
The API Changelog 6 implied HN points 20 Jun 25
  1. RFC 9727 introduces a way to easily find and use APIs through a programmatic catalog. This means both humans and machines can discover APIs more efficiently.
  2. It uses predefined paths and techniques like 'well-known' URIs to help consumers locate an api-catalog. This makes it simpler for anyone looking to advertise their APIs.
  3. The api-catalog document can have different formats, but it must include a list of links to APIs. However, having a consistent format could help consumers understand and discover the APIs better.
The API Changelog 4 implied HN points 04 Aug 25
  1. Meta has improved its Threads API with new features like interactive polls and better analytics tools for developers.
  2. Wallarm raised $50 million to enhance its API security platform, focusing on protecting against AI-related threats.
  3. Anthropic stopped OpenAI from using its Claude models due to what it claims was misuse, highlighting tension in the AI industry.
10-year Horizon 19 implied HN points 01 May 23
  1. API versions of AI tools have vast potential for software integration.
  2. Software development could shift to more implicit programming with the rise of Intelligence APIs.
  3. Tradeoffs in AI models include response time, accuracy, and the context window size.