APIs are becoming an almost default part of any web application that exposes data. Be it a social network for which people can build clients or a data repository where people want to consume the data they need in a fashion of their choosing, APIs are empowering users to work with the data how they want. There’s a good chance your application will benefit from having an API. –by Chris Tankersley

An API is a story. You start at the beginning knowing almost nothing. The author then introduces you to the main characters; you learn what they do and how they interact. You explore trials and successes with each of them, and by the end, you hate your wicked stepmother and whoever wrote the API. –by Keith Casey

APIs are everywhere. Years ago, Twitter demonstrated the power of releasing APIs to the public. Now companies and governments alike are following in their footsteps. Regardless of architecture, developers use these APIs to provide new and interesting services, some becoming successful startups. Yet a large part of an API’s success depends upon its documentation. Documentation can make or break an API. After all, if no one knows how to use your API, no one can develop anything from it. As we all know, though, developers hate documenting, and documenting an API can be especially painful. All of the endpoints, each with different parameters and responses – so many paths to document, what can a developer do? Enter I/O Docs. –by Jason McCreary

Microsoft’s Windows Azure may sound like it’s just for Windows users or .NET developers. It’s actually quite awesome for hosting PHP applications and has a number of surprise features and services you may not have heard of. –by Mark Brown

This month, I encountered some difficulties with ZF 2 and Git. Why would I share all of this pain with you? Because when you find yourself in the same situation one day, you will know you’re not alone, and if you’re lucky, you may even find a solution in here. –by Bart McLeod

Have you ever wanted to take a legacy codebase, one with no care or thought for consistency, predictability or coding standards, and fix it instantly? In this month’s column, using PHP Coding Standards Fixer, I will show you how. –by Matthew Setter

Magento relies on XML to establish and configure its MVC functionality. The existence and particularities of each module are established in configuration XML. Given the number of modules in the core and the liberal and varied ways in which each module uses configuration XML, gaining an understanding of the configuration is daunting. Frankly, it is hard to know where to start. Because one of the most satisfying things to do when exploring a framework is to get it to handle/respond to some new command, this article focuses on one simple aspect – route configuration – to introduce the developer to the Magento configuration idiom. –by Ben Marks

There’s one thing very different about writing this article and about this entire issue of php|architect… –by Eli White

Using an API has always made me feel like I’ve discovered a secret entrance to a magical place. –by Elizabeth Tucker Long