(2004-10-27) Udell Gmail Api

Jon Udell looks at the GMail implicit API. Because Gmail's behavior is embedded in the UI engine, all subsequent interaction between the browser and the Gmail service is just an exchange of data. What Johnvey Hwang calls the Data Pack format is not XML, though; it's JavaScript... Almost five years ago, a company called Half Brain (which was acquired by Alpha Blox, which was acquired by IBM) made DHTML do things nobody thought it could - like implement a spreadsheet (Brain Matter), for example. As Ofoso-Amaah notes, some of that DNA found its way into OddPost/Yahoo.