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APIs are Interfaces Too

APIs are Interfaces Too

by Alex Koppel @ APIStrat 2014 in Chicago

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Transcript

  1. Me • Ruby/iOS/JS since 2008 • Senior Developer at eSpark

    • Previously: Wunderlist, 
 Facebook marketing, 
 healthcare IT
  2. ???

  3. WAT

  4. Thing is... • The FB API is actually quite well

    designed • Strong fundamental pattern • Not amateurs
  5. Principle of Least Surprise http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment "People are part of the

    system. The design should match the user's experience, expectations, and mental models." What is least surprising may however depend on the expected audience, e.g. end users, programmers or system administrators.
  6. Perspective • Put yourself in another developer's shoes • Even

    for an internal API • Extra effort, but it pays off over time
  7. Consideration • Make decisions about your API early on •

    Or right now! • Define how it should behave
  8. Building an SDK • Consuming your own API is the

    best test • Can you build simple, consistent methods?