Terms:

• AWS - Amazon Web Service
• ASIN - Amazon Standard Item Number
• Associate ID - pass this # into all AWS calls
• REST - Representational State Transfer

Concept is the programmable website

• support for industry standards
• remote access to data and functionality
• about getting direct access to guts of website

What is AWS?

• APIs that give any developer outside of amazon programmatic access to Amazon's data and technology.
• Includes product information, customer-created content, shopping cart, etc.

Why AWS?

• Legitimize outside access, site scraping sucks
• Third-party developers extend the Amazon platform
• Harness creativity of others

Offering:

• SOAP API
• REST API
• XSLT transformation service - can apply transform to XML results before returned. Can build website with no physical template, just supply XSLT stylesheet, in order to build "virtual website".
• WSDL - documentation for schemas
• Tons of documentation & community outreach

REST vs. SOAP:

• SOAP is standard, strongly typed, requires toolkit
• REST is convention, ad hoc, easy ramp-up, prototype in browser, really easy to use. Key-value pair based. Easy to script. Develop in browser.
• REST is about 80% used, SOAP other 20%.

Getting started:

• http://www.amazon.com/webservices
• developer blog: http://aws.typepad.com
• download documentation

Summary:

• Amazon offers 3 different things via web services API
• Easy to use via Java
• WebServices is like an API for specific websites, allowing 3rd party developers to build new sorts of apps just like if you were to write an app for the Windows API.