Length: 30 min.

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In this podcast, I talk with Scot Marvin, an API technical writer based in Oregon, about some introductory topics with API documentation. Topics covered in the podcast include the following:

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• The prevalence of APIs 15 years ago compared to today
  
• The definition of an API
  
• What technical writers are responsible to document with APIs
  
• Where technical writers get information about the requests, parameters, and other technical details with APIs
  
• Whether technical writers get info from the API code or from other sources, such as specs
  
• The difference between reading versus writing code
  
• Documentation beyond the reference API that tech writers create
  
• The difference between an SDK and API
  
• Some paths people take that lead them to doing API documentation
  
• Whether tech writers are at a disadvantage without a dev background when creating API doc
  
• What format the response of an API usually delivered in (JSON, XML)
  
• How a REST API differs from a Java API
  
• How does SOAP differ from REST
  
• Examples of some good sample API doc sites, and why
  
• The amount of continual study and learning needed to thrive in API doc space
  

For more information about Scott, see his Twitter handle scotmarvin or his website scotmarvin.com.

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