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Code is data. Data is code. (Score:1)
A web site is an API. :-) And newsfeeds are a widely supported subset of that.
If you think otherwise, you’re thinking in terms of implementation, not in terms of interface. The web’s architectural goal is to make it not matter whether the document you receive is served from a static file, generated dynamically from an SQL database, served statically from a store other than the filesystem, or… whatever else. In the end there’s just documents with links you can follow, and that’s
Re: (Score:2)
Except that a documented API at least implies that if it's not static, the designers will at least try to minimize changes (that is, if the designers are are aware of the issues involved). A Web site makes no such claims, in general. If they had something on their site which said "go ahead and scrape us, baby, it won't hurt!", then I'd be less worried. They don't say that, so the scraping route is, er, fragile at best.
Re:Code is data. Data is code. (Score:1)
Ah, that is what you actually meant. (Stability is not the first thing I associate with the term “API” – loose coupling makes the web work at all.)
The Gutenbergsters should have a mailing list, do they not? Seems like a good idea to ask them if they’re willing to commit to permanent support of whatever they’d be willing to, and to state so publicly.
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