Different Python Google APIs

Question

I am trying to figure out the difference between Google's GData API ( http://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client/ ) and Google's APIs Client Library for Python ( http://code.google.com/p/google-api-python-client/ ).

They both seem to be by Google. Which is the official one? How are they different? The second seems to use OAuth primarily.

If anyone has knowledge or experience using either it would be great to get some information about this!

PS: I though about putting this on superuser, but because it is programming related I thought it would be better here.

Answer 1

The difference is the same as the difference between the corresponding Java libraries (http://code.google.com/p/google-api-java-client/ and http://code.google.com/p/gdata-java-client/)

That is, the gdata- version of the code has gone into maintenance mode, probably won't be updated to cover new APIs, but will have bugs fixed as they're found. The google-api- version is under very active development.

There's a good discussion of the pros and cons of each version of the Java api here: http://code.google.com/p/gdata-java-client/wiki/MigratingToGoogleApiJavaClient

The non-java-specific parts of that document also apply to the python api libraries.

Answer 2

These libraries are also intended to support different protocols.

The APIs supported by google-api-python-client are discovery based, while those supported by gdata-python-client use the GData protocol.