Pipes is a service platform for processing well-structured data anywhere on the Internet, from RSS feeds to CSV files to HTML pages, in a Web-based visual programming environment.

Developers of all abilities can use Pipes to combine data sources and user input into mashups without having to write code. These mashups, analogous in some ways to Unix pipes, are hosted by Yahoo!, enabling developers to both exploit the proximity to useful services within Yahoo!s infrastructure and free them from the need to provide their own servers.

The talk will present the rationale behind the Pipes service, walk through the creation of a few sample Pipes (as well as some intriguing Pipes from our developers), the advantages (and disadvantages) of running in the cloud, and finally some interesting ways that Pipes can be used away from the desktop.