We have been playing around with the Stack Exchange API, exploring what is possible with the question and answer API. You might know Stack Exchange better as the platform behind the popular programming website Stack Overflow, but that is just one of many forums being powered by the platform. To help understand what is available via the platform we wanted to explore the top Stack Exchange sites available on the platform (there are 100!) and see which ones would make for interesting real-time streams.
You can access this list of sites using the Stack Exchange Sites API endpoint, which provides a significant amount of detail for each of the sites, but we wanted to publish the top 100 here to show what is possible when you proxy the Stack Exchange API using Streamdata.io.
– Stack Overflow – For professional and enthusiast programmers.
– Server Fault – For system and network administrators.
– Super User – For computer enthusiasts and power users.
– Meta Stack Exchange – For meta-discussion of the Stack Exchange family of Q&A websites.
– Web Applications – For power users of web applications.
– Web Applications Meta – For power users of web applications.
– Arqade – For passionate videogamers on all platforms.
– Arqade Meta – For passionate videogamers on all platforms.
– Webmasters – For pro webmasters.
– Webmasters Meta – For pro webmasters.
– Seasoned Advice – For professional and amateur chefs.
– Seasoned Advice Meta – For professional and amateur chefs.
– Game Development – For professional and independent game developers.
– Game Development Meta – For professional and independent game developers.
– Photography – For professional, enthusiast and amateur photographers.
– Photography Meta – For professional, enthusiast and amateur photographers.
– Cross Validated – For people interested in statistics, machine learning, data analysis, data mining, and data visualization.
– Cross Validated Meta – For people interested in statistics, machine learning, data analysis, data mining, and data visualization.
– Mathematics – For people studying math at any level and professionals in related fields.
– Mathematics Meta – For people studying math at any level and professionals in related fields.
– Home Improvement – For contractors and serious DIYers.
– Home Improvement Meta – For contractors and serious DIYers.
– Meta Super User – For computer enthusiasts and power users.
– Meta Server Fault – For system and network administrators.
– Geographic Information Systems – For cartographers, geographers and GIS professionals.
– Geographic Information Systems Meta – For cartographers, geographers and GIS professionals.
– TeX – LaTeX – For users of TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and related typesetting systems.
– TeX – LaTeX Meta – For users of TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and related typesetting systems.
– Ask Ubuntu – For Ubuntu users and developers.
– Ask Ubuntu Meta – For Ubuntu users and developers.
– Personal Finance & Money – For people who want to be financially literate.
– Personal Finance & Money Meta – For people who want to be financially literate.
– English Language & Usage – For linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
– English Language & Usage Meta – For linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
– Stack Apps – For apps, scripts, and development with the Stack Exchange API.
– User Experience – For user experience researchers and experts.
– User Experience Meta – For user experience researchers and experts.
– Unix & Linux – For users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Un*x-like operating systems.
– Unix & Linux Meta – For users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Un*x-like operating systems.
– WordPress Development – For WordPress developers and administrators.
– WordPress Development Meta – For WordPress developers and administrators.
– Theoretical Computer Science – For theoretical computer scientists and researchers in related fields.
– Theoretical Computer Science Meta – For theoretical computer scientists and researchers in related fields.
– Ask Different – For power users of Apple hardware and software.
– Ask Different Meta – For power users of Apple hardware and software.
– Role-playing Games – For gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games.
– Role-playing Games Meta – For gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games.
– Bicycles – For people who build and repair bicycles, people who train cycling, or commute on bicycles.
– Bicycles Meta – For people who build and repair bicycles, people who train cycling, or commute on bicycles.
– Software Engineering – For professionals, academics, and students working within the systems development life cycle.
– Software Engineering Meta – For professionals, academics, and students working within the systems development life cycle.
– Electrical Engineering – For electronics and electrical engineering professionals, students, and enthusiasts.
– Electrical Engineering Meta – For electronic hardware hacking enthusiasts.
– Android Enthusiasts – For enthusiasts and power users of the Android operating system.
– Android Enthusiasts Meta – For enthusiasts and power users of the Android operating system.
– Board & Card Games – For people who like playing board games, designing board games or modifying the rules of existing board games.
– Board & Card Games Meta – For people who like playing board games, designing board games or modifying the rules of existing board games.
– Physics – For active researchers, academics and students of physics.
– Physics Meta – For active researchers, academics and students of physics.
– Homebrewing – For dedicated home brewers and serious enthusiasts.
– Homebrewing Meta – For dedicated home brewers and serious enthusiasts.
– Information Security – For information security professionals.
– Information Security Meta – For information security professionals.
– Writing – For the craft of professional writing, including fiction, non-fiction, technical, scholarly, and commercial writing.
– Writing Meta – For the craft of professional writing, including fiction, non-fiction, technical, scholarly, and commercial writing.
– Video Production – For engineers, producers, editors, and enthusiasts spanning the fields of video, and media creation.
– Video Production Meta – For engineers, producers, editors, and enthusiasts spanning the fields of video, and media creation.
– Graphic Design – For Graphic Design professionals, students, and enthusiasts.
– Graphic Design Meta – For Graphic Design professionals, students, and enthusiasts.
– Database Administrators – For database professionals who wish to improve their database skills and learn from others in the community.
– Database Administrators Meta – For database professionals who wish to improve their database skills and learn from others in the community.
– Science Fiction & Fantasy – For science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts.
– Science Fiction & Fantasy Meta – For science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts.
– Code Review – For peer programmer code reviews.
– Code Review Meta – For peer programmer code reviews.
– Programming Puzzles & Code Golf – For programming puzzle enthusiasts and code golfers.
– Programming Puzzles & Code Golf Meta – For programming puzzle enthusiasts and code golfers.
– Quantitative Finance – For finance professionals and academics.
– Quantitative Finance Meta – For finance professionals and academics.
– Project Management – For project managers.
– Project Management Meta – For project managers.
– Skeptics – For scientific skepticism.
– Skeptics Meta – For scientific skepticism.
– Physical Fitness – For physical fitness professionals, athletes, trainers, and those providing health-related needs.
– Physical Fitness Meta – For physical fitness professionals, athletes, trainers, and those providing health-related needs.
– Drupal Answers – For Drupal developers and administrators.
– Drupal Answers Meta – For Drupal developers and administrators.
– Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair – For mechanics and DIY enthusiast owners of cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
– Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Meta – For mechanics and DIY enthusiast owners of cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
– Parenting – For parents, grandparents, nannies and others with a parenting role.
– Parenting Meta – For parents, grandparents, nannies and others with a parenting role.
– SharePoint – For SharePoint enthusiasts.
– SharePoint Meta – For SharePoint enthusiasts.
– Music: Practice & Theory – For musicians, students, and enthusiasts.
– Music: Practice & Theory Meta – For musicians, students, and enthusiasts.
– Software Quality Assurance & Testing – For software quality control experts, automation engineers, and software testers.
– Software Quality Assurance & Testing Meta – For software quality control experts, automation engineers, and software testers.
– Mi Yodeya – For those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more.
– Mi Yodeya Meta – For those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more.
– German Language – For speakers of German wanting to discuss the finer points of the language and translation.
When making calls to the Stack Exchange API, you can pull questions, answers, and other rich data available via each site. We published a previous post about turning Stack Overflow questions into a real-time stream, something you can replicate for each of the 100 sites listed here. The Stack Exchange API represents a huge source of streaming data, just waiting to be proxied using Streamdata.io, and piped into the applications you are developing.
We are pushing forward with more prototypes and storytelling around Stack Overflow, developing dashboards and training machine learning models around the valuable information about the technology community. After we play around with that community, we are going to look through some of the other sites available on the Stack Exchange platform, understanding the potential for different types of data streams, and the unique potential for each community. We consider Stack Exchange to be one of the top 10 sources of data that should be available as real-time streams, right alongside Twitter, and other social data APIs available today.
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