Givingtechnologytotheworld.

Advoca4ng,ShowcasingandExplaining

Chris4anHeilmann,Yahoointernaltalk,Sunnyvale,California,04/02/2010

Disclaimer:Iwillinthispresenta4oncomplainaboutsomeexamplesthatareliveonwebsites.IdothiscauseIhaveachancetochangethemandtoencourageustodobeKer.Idorealisethatitiseasytojudgedecisionswiththebenefitouthindsight‐butthisisnotanexcusetorepeatmistakesofthepast.Complacencyistheenemyofinnova4onandcommunica4on.

Wri4nggreattechnologyisathinggooddevelopersdo.

Explainingthetechnologytoothers,makingitunderstandableandmaintainableisatotallydifferentthing.

Thereareafewthingsthatmakeadeveloperabadadvocateoftechnology.

1. WeknowthesubjectmaKer.2. Wearenotknownforour

pa4ence.3. Wehavetogothroughalotof

painandseethisasausefullearningexperienceforeverybody.

4. Thisisallsoobvious!Goodcodeexplainsitself!

Ontheotherhand,salesandmarke4ngpeoplearebadtechadvocates.

1. Thebrandandourproductcomesfirst.

2. Thereisagoodandposi4vestoryineverything.

3. Itisaboutthefun,connec4ngwithotherpeopleanddoinglikecooltechstuff‐andlike,otherstuff.

4. Thereisnocompe44on!

Goodtechadvocacyisamashup.

Tosucceedingivingtechtotheworldyouhavetochangeyourapproach.

Usethis!Itrocks!

Here’saproblemandthisisasolu4on.

Themainthingtoanswertoanyenduseranddeveloperoutthereis:

What is in it for me?

Developersarebusypeopleanddon’thave4metoreadlongdocuments.

Detaileddocumenta4onisneeded,butisonlyusedwhenthingsalreadywentwrong.

Inordertogetpeopletocareandgetthemtoplaywithwhatyouoffer,youneedasimplewayin.

Someexamples.

hKp://keywordfinder.org/

hKp://icant.co.uk/geomaker/index.php

hKp://isithackday.com/hacks/placemaker/tweet‐loca4ons.php

hKp://icant.co.uk/goohoobi/index.php?research

hKp://developer.yahoo.com/yui/grids/builder/

hKp://developer.yahoo.com/yui/grids/builder/

hKp://developer.yahoo.com/yui/ar4cles/hos4ng/#configure

YQLhKp://developer.yahoo.com/yql/console/

Bringthedataoutintotheopen‐assoonaspossible.

Keeptheeyeontheendresultandexplainthewaytogetthere.

ThisexpectsmetodownloadtheSDK,getanauthen4ca4oncode,authen4cateandthenIgetsomedata.

select*fromflickr.photos.searchwheretext="panda"limit3select*fromrsswhereurl=”hKp://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/topstories”and4tlelike"%China%"

Thedata,howeverdoesn’tneedanyauthen4ca4on.

Thisisacommonerror‐packingtoomuchinforma4onintoanexample.

UsingYQLiseasy!(PHP)

UsingYQLiseasy!(JavaScript)

Explainthewaytothedata,don’ttrytogetitalldoneinonestep.

An4cipatestumblingblocks,andwritethestorytothefullresults.

• Here’showtogetpublicdata.• Here’showtogetprivatedata.• Here’showtousethereturnedinforma4on.

hKp://maps.google.com/maps/api/sta4cmap?sensor=false&size=300x300&maptype=roadmap&markers=color:blue|label:I|37.4225,‐122.14246&key={MAPKEY}

Knowyourenvironment.

Knowyourenvironment.

• Writedefensivecode• Checkonlinestatus• Listdependenciesveryearly• Provideabuildandtestscript• Provideademokey

Makeiteasytouseyourcode.• Providealivedemo/showscreencast

• Provideafulldownload(GitHub)• Offerhos4ngifneeded• Documentfulldownloadandlinkbacktoliveexample.

Writeexcellentcopyandpastecode.

• Linkallresources• Providethefullscriptupfront• Validateandsecureyourcode• Usebestprac4ces

Bonustricks:• Showhowyourcodeplayswellwithothers(successfulproducts)

• Giveexampleshowusingyourproductmadeotherssuccessful

• Advocatemaintainableandreusablecodewithyourexamples.

Samplecodeshouldbethecleanestandbestcodeyoueverwriteinyourcareer.

Anythingyoudoinsamplecodewillbeusedandimitated.

Ifyoudoagoodjob,youcanhelpteachgreatdevelopersoftomorrow.

Ifyoudoabadjob,youcausetruisms,badcodingprac4cesandfailatadvoca4ngyourselfandyourcompanyasthoughtleaders.

Themaintricktogreatdocumenta4onandexamplesiscollabora4on.

Workwithsomeonetoaskyoutherightques4onsandchallengeyoutocreatearock‐soliddemo.

Chris4anHeilmannhKp://wait‐4ll‐i.comhKp://developer‐evangelism.comhKp://twiKer.com/codepo8

Thanks!