node.js and ql.io - Build Your Own HTTP APIs for Agility and Scale

Using HTTP based APIs (or “web services”) for data exchange is not new, but the app landscape has changed over years. In an empirical study we noticed that a modern mobile app needs data from about 3-5 APIs. The number is much higher for front-end apps. Data volumes often exceed several hundred kilobytes. This reliance on data from multiple APIs translates to increased code complexity, latency and reliability issues. Consequently, efficient and scalable retrieval of data from APIs is extremely important today.

At eBay, we’re building a new HTTP gateway called ql.io to improve the way front-end and mobile apps can get data. ql.io is a recently open-sourced HTTP gateway.

The key premise of ql.io is to enable app developers to build optimized interfaces to APIs that reflect app’s needs and usage. This translates to drastically simplified interfaces, reduced data volume, better connection management, increased reliability and lower latency.

In this session we will show why we built ql.io, how we are using ql.io for eBay APIs, and the productivity and performance gains we are seeing. We will demonstrate – with live demos – how to use ql.io to quickly consume any HTTP API. We will also take a deep dive into the techniques we use under the hood – such as node.js, evented IO, DSLs and so on.