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Google Will Block Access To Its Autocomplete API On August 10
An anonymous reader writes with news reported by VentureBeat that Google will be discontinuing developer access to its unofficial Autocomplete API, as of August 10 of this year. A snippet from the article: Google currently supports more than 80 APIs that developers can use to integrate Google services and data into their applications. The company also has unsupported and unpublished APIs which people outside the company have discovered and leveraged. One of those is the Autocomplete API. The company says it is making this move "in the interest of maintaining the integrity of autocomplete as part of Search," that it wants to "ensure that users experience autocomplete as it was designed to be used," and finally that "this provides the best user experience for both services." I'm sure many will disagree.
If you use undocumented calls you are all going to have a bad time mmm kay.
It seems every 'generation' of programmers gets to re-learn this lesson.
While the general sentiment of your statement is correct - given the plurality of services they have discontinued in the past - do note that this autocomplete API wasn't particularly "offered to the public"; it was never official or particularly supported.
Relying on undocumented / unofficial APIs always carries such a risk.
Except Google didn't offer it to the public. It is an unpublished API that is and was unsupported for external use.
I don't see the problem here. Don't rely on undocumented APIs.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.