How This Book Is Structured

This book has two sections, Web Feeds and APIs. Logically enough the first section discusses web feeds, from both the production and consumption angles. As such, the section is divided into three chapters, covering the introduction, consumption, and production of web feeds. The second section examines APIs. Past the introductory chapter there are four chapters, each delving into a single API. Following that there is a chapter that briefly examines three other APIs, followed by a chapter that examines APIs from the other side, producing an API to offer to your users. Each section and chapter stands on its own, with few exceptions. XML is introduced in Chapter 2, as are the basic formats for web feeds. The basic structure for REST and SOAP APIs are introduced in Chapter 5, useful things to know while working with APIs. For both the feeds and API sections, I would recommend reading at least one of the chapters that concentrates on consumption before moving onto the production side of things. This will help ensure you have a good grounding