DRC 2017 Boot Camp – Best Practices from attendees
During one of the Evans Data 13th Annual Developer Relations Conference Sunday Boot Camp sessions on Best Practices (featuring developer programs and features from boot camp attendees), three specific developer program sites were called out by several of the attendees. In addition, we also had the opportunity to have two of our Boot Camp faculty members on hand to talk more about their developer programs, sites and features.
Ford Developer Program
Scott Burnell, Ford Motor Company Global Lead, Business Development & Partner Management, spent a few minutes talking about the Ford Developer Program and took questions from the attendees. Scott covered several of the Ford developer program offerings including:
- SYNC® AppLink™ – AppLink is a suite of APIs that provide the ability for mobile developers to extend the command and control of a mobile application to the in-vehicle Human Machine Interface (HMI).
- https://developer.ford.com/pages/applink
- Android, iOS
- ALE – Sync 3 ApplinkTM Emulator
- Technical Development Kit (TDK) hardware
- Distribute – iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Myapp , Baidu, or more
- Smart Device Link (SDL) – an open-source POSIX-compliant technology platform on which the Ford AppLink product is built and allows it to communicate between applications running on a mobile device and our SYNC in-vehicle software.
- https://developer.ford.com/pages/sdl
- POSIX-compliant technology platform
- Deploy to Linux, QNX, or other popular embedded operating systems
- Communicate with any mobile device OS such as iOS or Android.
- OpenXC – a non-production open source interface, designed to attract top developers to experiment with DIY projects in Ford vehicles (with or without SYNC).
- http://openxcplatform.com/
- Open Source software interface
- Open Source hardware specification

Ford TDK
ThingWorx Developer Program
Michael Aglietti, VP of Developer Programs at ThingWorx, got up next and spent a few minutes going over the ThingWorx developer program, specific aspects that are unique to an IoT company and took questions from the attendees. Michael covered some of the ThingWorx offerings including:
- “Begin Your IoT Journey”
- Program is focused to help developers:
- Make – ThingWorx allows you to connect anything and everything including devices, sensors, and systems. By leveraging the power of the platform, you can quickly build impactful solutions.
- Analyze – You do not have to be a data scientist to produce insights as if you were one. Leverage our platform to derive meaningful insights from your data.
- Code – Use the ThingWorx development tools and API’s to quickly connect devices and build secure applications. Leverage existing systems and device clouds for ultimate flexibility.
- REST APIs – Quick starts, How To’s, Cheat Sheets
- SDKs for Java, .NET, C, iOS, Android
- Edge Micro Server (EMS) – Raspberry Pi
- Marketplace – The ThingWorx Marketplace gives you easy access to everything you need to build and run your ThingWorx based IoT application: From extensions and apps that can be downloaded and integrated directly into your ThingWorx application to partners that can help you build your IoT solution or offer certified and compatible products that work with it.
- https://marketplace.thingworx.com/
- Apps
- Extensions
- Partners
- Certified Products
Three Developer Programs attendees said had great Documentation Best Practices
Several of the boot camp attendees mentioned the following three developer programs saying they had great documentation for developers.
- Slack – https://api.slack.com/
- Twilio – https://www.twilio.com/docs/
- Stripe – https://stripe.com/docs
Thank You AngelHack, Boot Camp Faculty, Product Marketing Panelists and Attendees
A big thanks to AngelHack for sponsoring this year’s Evans Data Developer Relations Boot Camp. Two big thank you(s) to Scott (from Ford) and Michael (from ThingWorx). And finally, massive thank you(s) to all of our great boot camp attendees for your participation and your feedback surveys. With your help we will continue to evolve the boot camp day to meet your needs. I hope we see you again next year!
David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidi99/