The massive amount of real-time information available is leading to new programming approaches.
Many websites offer application programming interfaces (APIs) that let programmers tap directly into their data and capabilities. This makes it possible to add the latest Twitter headlines to a desktop application, or combine content from several sites in a so-called "mash up." Wikipedia Vision, for example, uses the Wikipedia API and the Google Maps API to show new entries to the online encyclopedia by the geographical location from which the entry was posted.
