API Developer Interview: Jonathan Isabelle of Jack of Cars

Over a month ago, the Edmunds API was released. Today, we have 100+ developers on the platform who have made in excess of 1 million API calls. One of those awesome developers is Jonathan Isabelle of Jack of Cars. Here's our interview with Jonathan:

Hi Jonathan, could you please tell us your full name and what you do?

My name is Jonathan Isabelle. I have been a programmer since the early 80's--yes, I learned to code on the TRS-80 :P--and have been loving it as a creative outlet ever since. Most recently I work as a Software Architect for desktop software and develop phone apps in the wee hours of the night.

What is Jack of Cars?

Jack of Cars is an app for Windows Phone 7 that leverages the Edmunds API to allow users to look up car details, prices, pictures, and dealers.

Why did you build it?

There have been so many times where I stop to look at a car on the side of the road or at a dealer and just want to quickly look up and find out the engine size, the cost, and the private party or retail value. I've had friends call me from the road to look up similar information on line.

How many people use your site on average?

Jack of Cars released only 8 days ago but has had been used over 3,000 times.

How did you hear about the Edmunds API?

I heard about the Edmunds API in Mashery's "New APIs" notification and immediately got excited.

What do you think of it so far?

The API is amazingly detailed and has many different ways of drilling down into the data. I use the Vehicle API and the Dealer API. Most interfaces are flexible allowing a minimum amount of required data and multiple optional parameters. The docs are very good and consistent providing formats as well as example requests and results.

What would you like to see on the Edmunds API portal?

Some results include detailed lists like options but don't have user-friendly names. Although these generally have easy to use links to get further detail, if one were follow all these links to fill a list for the user to choose from, you might be making 5 or more API calls. Including a user friendly name in the brief lists would allow the application developer to build a list from a single request and then only drill down into the data the user selects.

How easy was it to find the data you're looking?

I had no difficulty locating services to fulfill all my app's needs.

How easy was it to implement it?

Building the URIs to make the calls is very straightforward and readable. Since the data comes back in JSON, it's easy to try a call and peruse the results to get an idea of what to expect. The only thing that was tedious for me was building the JSON description for my JSON deserializer. Still, it was a small effort for access to so much data.

How many 3rd-party APIs do you used in Jack of Cars?

I am currently using three 3rd-party APIs. Obviously, I use Edmunds Vehicle API to look up car details, photos, and values. I use Edmunds Dealer API to find dealers. I use Telerik's RAD Controls for Windows Phone for interpage transitions and busy indicators.

What other Edmunds datasets are you interested in using in the future?

At first, I misunderstood the Inventory API and thought it could return details on a particular car like links to its history. I think this would be a good bridge between applications built on the Edmunds API and the Edmunds site itself. I'm not sure if that data is available.


* To find out more about Jack of Cars or contact the developer, please visit us on Facebook.