People from all over are gathered together in London today to attend A Day of REST, a conference dedicated to all things REST API. Speakers included contributors, people putting it into practice, and Automatticians.
Jack Lenox, a Design Engineer at WordPress.com, was one of the speakers at the conference. He talked about “how you can use the REST API in your WordPress development flow right now.” In this interview, Lenox talks about how the REST API unites the Internet and what this means for the future of WordPess.
Though the REST API is still in early stages, it is beginning to change WordPress.
“At Automattic, we have now open sourced Calypso, our new admin interface built with JavaScript and Node.js,” Lenox told Torque in an interview. “This is potentially the start of a huge shake-up for the WordPress ecosystem.”
Lenox also mentioned a change in how we build sites. People are moving away from traditional theming and are instead using sites that are built with JavaScript and use the REST API to grab data from the backend.
One of the most exciting things about the API is how inclusive it is going to make WordPress. It will allow for easy communication with nearly any mobile device. That means app developers can get on board and begin to use it and connect with WordPress.
Lenox is most excited about the ability the ability to span all open source programming.
“Until now, it has been largely confined to the PHP/CSS communities, but with projects such as Calypso, WordPress is now finding new support within the JavaScript ecosystem,” Lenox told Torque. “We even have iOS and Android developers speaking at WordCamps.”
More people are going to be able to get involved with WordPress because of the REST API. It’s a way to unify the Internet. Developers could even use it to create games. Though it isn’t being widely done, Lenox sees real potential for building thought-based adventure games, build with JavaScript using WordPress as a data layer.
“I think these sorts of games that have relatively simple interfaces could be fantastic browser-based games that are playable across any device with an internet connection,” said Lenox. “Also, games like Monkey Island and Papers Please involve a lot of text and dialogue, why not use WordPress to store and retrieve that data?”
What do you think of the unifying properties of the REST API? What’s your favorite use case?
No Comments