user1987: I am looking at building an application using Bitcoins, and being a newbie the only real resources I have found regarding how to interact with the network is to issue RPC commands to the bitcoin-qt client running as a service.
I've played with this a bit and I am curious if there are other clients that do the same thing? Or is this client the only game in town?

user11121: No, it's an important part, but it's not the only option.  And it depends entirely on what type of application you want to build and where you are located geographically.

If you want a lot of flexibility but don't want to run your own
Bitcoind, look into Blockchain's wallet API.
If you are in the US and you want to accept Bitcoin, Coinbase has a rich API as well.  BitPay has an API also, although I'm less familiar with it.
Other sites exist that let you get quotes, inspect blocks, transactions, etc. through REST-formed requests.

Running bitcoind exacts a certain toll for hosting fees as well as managing security.  It's what I've chosen for my business, but it's not the only approach for everyone.

user11369: You have many options but Bitcoind is a popular one due to its initial ease.

Use Bitcoind
Use an API such as Coinbase or Blockchain.info be careful as these can be slow and not as secure.
Use one of the many libraries made for various languages. Bitcoinj for Java, Libbitcoin for C++, Gocoin for Golang, and for other languages like Python and Javascript you can always find tools in a github search. This is the search for Python libraries in python.


1987: <p>I am looking at building an application using Bitcoins, and being a newbie the only real resources I have found regarding how to interact with the network is to issue RPC commands to the bitcoin-qt client running as a service.</p>

<p>I've played with this a bit and I am curious if there are other clients that do the same thing? Or is this client the only game in town?</p>
 11121: <p>No, it's an important part, but it's not the only option.  And it depends entirely on what type of application you want to build and where you are located geographically.</p>

<ul>
<li>If you want a lot of flexibility but don't want to run your own
Bitcoind, look into Blockchain's <a href="http://blockchain.info/api/blockchain_wallet_api" rel="nofollow">wallet API</a>.</li>
<li>If you are in the US and you want to accept Bitcoin, <a href="https://coinbase.com/docs/api/overview" rel="nofollow">Coinbase has a rich API</a> as well.  <a href="https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway-api" rel="nofollow">BitPay has an API</a> also, although I'm less familiar with it.</li>
<li>Other sites exist that let you get quotes, inspect blocks, transactions, etc. through REST-formed requests.</li>
</ul>

<p>Running bitcoind exacts a certain toll for hosting fees as well as managing security.  It's what I've chosen for my business, but it's not the only approach for everyone.</p>
 11369: <p>You have many options but Bitcoind is a popular one due to its initial ease.</p>

<ul>
<li>Use Bitcoind</li>
<li>Use an API such as Coinbase or Blockchain.info be careful as these can be slow and not as secure.</li>
<li>Use one of the many libraries made for various languages. <a href="https://code.google.com/p/bitcoinj/" rel="nofollow">Bitcoinj</a> for Java, <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=30646.0" rel="nofollow">Libbitcoin</a> for C++, <a href="https://github.com/piotrnar/gocoin" rel="nofollow">Gocoin</a> for Golang, and for other languages like Python and Javascript you can always find tools in a github search. This is <a href="https://github.com/search?l=Python&amp;o=desc&amp;q=bitcoin&amp;ref=searchresults&amp;s=stars&amp;type=Repositories" rel="nofollow">the search</a> for Python libraries in python.</li>
</ul>
