It’s been awhile since I’ve updated the blog, so it might be hard to believe that a lot of work has gone into Quizlet since the last post. We’ve made the Quizlet search engine a ton better, we’ve added some exciting new technology that does voice recognition (more on that later), and made a lot of performance enhancements to keep the site running as growth increases.
Now, as we head into summer (and the accompanying dive in traffic as people get of school), we have the opportunity to experiment with lots of cool new features. We’re building a lot of cool tools set to be done before the summer is up — one of which we’re ready to announce today:
The Quizlet API is now available! For those who don’t know, API stands for Application Programming Interface. The Quizlet API is a tool that lets programmers develop tools that work with Quizlet’s massive content library (we now have about 30 million flashcards on our site!) This will let people build cool things like cell phone applications and screensavers that use Quizlet data. Developers have been asking for this for years, so it’s great that it’s finally available.
The Quizlet API is free to use and only requires you to be a registered Quizlet user (which you can also get for free). This is our first release so you may not be able to do everything you want just yet, but you should find that it’s surprisingly powerful. If you have suggestions for stuff we should add or bugs you find, please post a comment in the blog.
Are you a developer? Get started here.
Very nice! :O
The API seems fairly simple to use, now all I have to do is figure out how to parse the JSON data or load it into a variable. Maybe something like this:
var http = new XMLHttpRequest();
http.onreadystatechange = function() { if (http.readyState == 4) { /* somehow parse the JSON data and assign it to a variable */ }
http.open(”get”, “http://quizlet.com/api/1.0sets?stuffhere”, true);
http.send(null);
Actually, I don’t think that will work because certain browsers don’t allow Ajax calls to be made to other websites. I could probably use PHP’s file_get_contents function as an alternative but then I need allow_url_fopen to be on… that would be a problem.
But anyway very nice work! I’m starting to think of new ideas for a Quizlet application! :O
@rawr: Using JSON-P, you can circumvent that. If you add this element to your page: <script src=”quizlet.com/api/1.0/sets?dev_key=…&q=…&callback=function_name”></script>
then function_name() will get called with the JSON data as the argument.
Alright, thanks! I’m thinking something like this should do:
function parse(data)
{
// do whatever with the JSON data here…
}
Now I just have to figure out what to make
Got a simple test demo running. Not much, but it’s a start.
[code]
Quizlet API
function parseJSON(data)
{
if (data["response_type"] == "ok")
{
var content = "";
content += "Total Results: " + data["total_results"] + "";
for (var c in data["sets"])
{
content += "" + data["sets"][c]["title"] + " - Owner: " + data["sets"][c]["creator"] + "";
}
document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = content;
}
}
[/code]
Eh, there were supposed to be HTML tags there. Guess they got cut off
Probably not the right place to ask, but it would be really useful to implement laTeX formatting in flashcard creation. It would help a lot in displaying mathematical formulas. I’m curious if this is planned, because with the API release, it can be done by a third party…but its not worth the trouble…
I have a suggestion for something to add: A new quizlet forum, but without all of the bugs that turned it into a social networking site. Or at least the PM’s and private forums.
Hey guys,
If you haven’t seen my posts on the developer comments, check out my app:
http://www.cardcram.com
I agree with Tamweh, we really need a forum for developers at least.
when is the iphone app comming??
yeah when the hell is the app coming just release what u have and add updates as u improve it i dont care the price either
I don’t really care. I don’t have an ipod touch, anyways. (or an iphone.)
How much is the iPhone application going to be priced at?
“Suggestions for stuff we should add…”
When making/studying flashcards, they should have a separate box with accented letters… unless there’s some other way to do that. This way I could study French, with the accents. Yes, I know you can download programs for that, but it’d be very convenient to have that option. And perhaps they could make it possible to make flashcards with pictures? It’d be very useful for identification. I would really appreciate some feedback! Thanks!
Nakatsu — click on “Show Symbols” on the create set page and all the study pages.
Quizlet with images is going up this week
Oh, I guess that was listed under “Creating Flashcards”. I can’t believe I didn’t notice before… Well thanks Andrew! This week? Sweet!
I like the enhancements, but I am compelled to comment on the bold font of the editing page (when editing a flash card, the terms are now displayed as bold, whereas before they were regular).
This is perfectly fine for the roman alphabet, but when it comes to more complex sign systems in languages such as Chinese, Japanese (and probably a few others), these alphabets become considerably less readable because the bold font makes their many lines and curves blend together.
I certainly don’t blame you for limiting the testing to western languages, but the fact is that this one change does negatively affect a considerable number of users.
Exellent!
you guys should make a iphone/ipod touch app!
I think you guys should make it so you can add a picture as the word too and not just the definition so that we could be quized on what the picture is. For example, I could post a picture of sodium and i would be quizing on what the picture is.
i like tht idea
Could you please implement something in the API besides simply viewing public sets? As it is, the API isn’t very CRUD.
Mainly:
—Set creation
—Set updating
—Set deletion
—Private set reading
i think quizlet is fine.
It has helped me get so many good grades to start off the new year. Thank for everything!!!!!
at least we can spell
ok :confused:
lol whatever
whtev
:(:cry:
i really like this web site for my study needs
ya it is really use ful it saves alot of time. Plus it helps me memerize vocab faster. this site really helped me when i has like 4 vocab quizes in a row. And i Ast them all
i love this site!!!!!
Does anybody know who made this website i do not know who or what company did?
yea quizlet
we got a funny guy here
??????????????????? i dant remember saying tht
ps who ever wrote tht ya i was not on quizlet today other than now
How do you do the smily face things
colen word Colen
: evil : put it togerther :EVIL: dont capitalize
: lol : =
: mad : =
: opps : =
: roll : = :roll
: ) =
: ( =
or click over dthe smileys with ur mouse and it tells u how to make them
my bad
Cool!!
-multiple choice in learn function
thanks : )
welcome
it is my job to help NOT REALLY
Make an Iphone App! PLEASE!
i can’t wait i have never seen a sit like this
ya lol
[...] [...]
funny lol
ya lol
quizlet rocks!!!!!
tht was me sorry llo
lol im back to say tht quizlet is the best !!!!
Hey this thing sounds cool! I can’t wait to try it!
quizlet is the best in the world i love this web site
?
I don’t really understand what you can do with this app.
Can I use this with Mozilla Labs’s Prism?
Is there a specific method to use when coding this? or API key? or format? I’m new to this…
Some help would be… helpfull…
Maybe if someone would post a template of sorts. saved as a text document (*.txt)
why did i get deleted my comment