Periodic Table of Google APIs

http://code.google.com/more/table/

by rafaelc • 15 years ago

143 26 15 years ago

code.google.com

requinot593• 15 years ago

Whenever I see "Periodic table of", I remember of this blog post by Rob Pike: http://commandcenter.blogspot.com/2010/08/know-your-science....

"Another sort of abuse is comedy periodic tables: periodic tables of the vegetables, period table of the desserts, periodic table of the presidents, and on and on. There are zillions of them. I believe the vegetables one was the first widely distributed example.

What's wrong with them? Again, they miss the point about the one true periodic table, Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements. In fact, to put things with no structure into a periodic table not only misses the point of the periodic table, it misses the profound idea that some things have periods."

fooandbarify2• 15 years ago

It is a travesty that I have just now realized and understood the meaning behind the use of the term "periodic" in the title of Mendeleev's table. I feel dumb. Thank you for this article and for pulling out that excerpt :)

Semiapies2• 15 years ago

"That just mocks the idea that science can predict the way the world works."

No, it makes a joke about a reference most people will remember from school. This complaint is just pedantry.

requinot593• 15 years ago

It's not a joke (does it make you laugh?), it's just bait.

neild• 15 years ago

This is entirely true, but I would like to point out the existence of a Periodic Table of Desserts that does not omit the periodic nature of the table:

http://eblong.com/zarf/periodic/

r00fus• 15 years ago

I really like the dessert "structures" - highly informative in a "Good Eats" kind of way.

nostrademons• 15 years ago

OTOH, I think that the Periodic Table of Perl6 Operators is a work of art:

http://www.ozonehouse.com/mark/periodic/

Tomek_• 15 years ago

I don't really agree with the main point of that post (c'mon, why care so much?) but it was good read nonetheless just for the fact that it reminded me how awesome science is. Almost makes me want to go back to school.

Colloquick• 15 years ago

My tips for Internet fame:

- Open up the Google API table. Close your eyes and click randomly on the page until two or more new windows appear.

- Using these APIs, create a mash-up with Bing Maps.

- Go to Domainr and search for an applicably douche-y domain to ship your new app under.

- Wait for the venture capital funding to flood in.

idoh• 15 years ago

That's the plan! Except for the VC part

morganpyne• 15 years ago

OK, it may not be an appropriate metaphor for science purists but it is extremely useful to have links to all APIs in one place, grouped visually by topics. I had enough trouble keeping up with the myriad APIs that Google provides and wasn't even aware of many of the ones linked to, so I applaud the effort.

requinot593• 15 years ago

Seriously, is the specific and quite "strange" disposition of the periodic table really adapted here? Why not a simple table-based layout, with no useless holes?

Here on FF 3.6 on a 1280x1024 display, some of the labels are truncated...

jRoden• 15 years ago

Why are you sperging about this so much? It's just a cutesy geeky reference. I don't think anyone is under the impression that it actually leverages the layout of the periodic table in a useful way. What a curmudgeon.

antimatter15• 15 years ago

I'm rather saddened that Chromium doesn't overlap with where Chromium should be.

adrianwaj2• 15 years ago

No Shared Spaces API: http://sharedspaces.googlelabs.com/p/api

although, that API is here: http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory/1?company=Goog...

Why don't they just offer a straight search API?

fooandbarify2• 15 years ago

If I remember correctly, they used to have one (until about 2 years ago?) but it was discontinued, presumably because there was no way to serve ads through it.

Edit: The Google Web Search API (http://code.google.com/apis/websearch/) was only deprecated in November of last year and should still be usable for a while, although the documentation appears to be gone.

adrianwaj2• 15 years ago

They should just offer a search api and and adwords api together. The publisher can get a cut of the adwords revenue, and there should be some sort of checking that search is being served with adwords - just by looking at comparative bandwith from the one ip.

If Google don't have social in their dna (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyOqNE7H9Ng/), then they should work with those that do.

pamelafox2• 15 years ago

FYI, if you are interested in a straight list of the APIs, you can browse them here: http://code.google.com/more/

I believe the periodic table data is based on or generated from that list.

We do have quite a few APIs over overlapping areas, so the periodic table is a nice alternative way to get a feel for them.

ssn• 15 years ago

"Visualization is not Periodic, Period!" http://eagereyes.org/blog/2009/visualization-is-not-periodic...

vosper• 15 years ago

The table is a bit misleading; lots of these entries aren't web APIs - Google TV optimisation guide, V8 source repository, Java developer tools.

pamelafox2• 15 years ago

The more accurate name (that we use sometimes) would be "Google Developer Products", but that just doesn't slip off the tongue as nicely.

When I started at Google, all of our APIs were true APIs, and my title was "API support engineer." Then we started developing these not-quite-API tools and platforms, and my titled changed to "Developer Programs Engineer". Also doesn't quite slip off the tongue. I do miss those simple days when we only had APIs... Alas!

tybris• 15 years ago

and yet not a single one for web search...

ez77• 15 years ago

This is neat! rafaelc, where did you find this?

Periodic Table of Google APIs

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