The Path of Good API

10 things I learned about APIs in 7 years.

The deck used during my presentations at API Days Paris, January 2018

Transcript

1. THE PATH OF GOOD API Zdenek “Z” Nemec 10 Things I Learned about APIs in 7 Years goodapi.co
2. I help businesses to build their APIs Zdenek “Z” Nemec @zdne zdne1 goodapi.co
3. https://goodapi.co INDEPENDENT API CONSULTING
4. THE PATH OF GOOD API No.10 No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 goodapi.co Predom inant API Styles Digital Transform ation M anagem ent W ho Serves Custom ers Product Ow ner Challenges Architecture Tools are the lim its Data M odel Future
5. WORLD RUNS ON SOAP, EDI OR FTP goodapi.co No.1
6. – Pingdom Blog, October 2010 “REST in Peace SOAP” goodapi.co
7. IN REALITY, MOST OF THE SERVICES YOU HAVE USED TO GET TO THIS CONFERENCE ARE UTILIZING SOME OTHER TYPES OF APIS BUT REST goodapi.co
8. This is the same rhetorics from REST evangelists towards SOAP as we see today from GraphQL towards REST goodapi.co
9. THERE WERE TWO WAVES OF API DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION goodapi.co No.2 Two Groups of Customers
10. 1. LARGE ORGANIZATIONS EMBRACING IT 2. UBIQUITOUS INTERNET AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT goodapi.co
11. FIRST WAVE goodapi.co Fulfilled by SOAP, EDI, FTP, ESB, etc.
12. SECOND WAVE goodapi.co
13. TWO WAVES goodapi.co Two Groups of Customers CUSTOMER SPECIFIC APIS GENERIC APIS VS. many mid- or small size customers few large established customers
14. THE NEW (SECOND WAVE) TYPE OF CUSTOMERS IS IGNORED OR UNDERSERVED BY INCUMBENTS goodapi.co
15. YOU CAN CONVINCE MANAGEMENT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF APIS No.3 goodapi.co
16. IF YOU DON’T DO IT, SOMEBODY ELSE WILL SERVE YOUR CUSTOMERS No.4 goodapi.co
17. Incumbent Existing Customer Existing Customer Existing Customer goodapi.co FIRST WAVE
18. Incumbent Existing Customer Existing Customer Existing Customer 3rd party New Type of Customer ignored at the start Second Wave of Customers goodapi.co SECOND WAVE
19. Incumbent Existing Customer Existing Customer Existing Customer 3rd party New Type of Customer New Type of Customer New Type of Customer goodapi.co SECOND WAVE
20. Incumbent Existing Customer Existing Customer Existing Customer 3rd party New Type of Customer New Type of Customer New Type of Customer goodapi.co SECOND WAVE TAKING OVER FIRST WAVE CUSTOMERS
21. Existing Customer Existing Customer Existing Customer 3rd party New Type of Customer New Type of Customer New Type of Customer goodapi.co Incumbent Incumbent Incumbent UNIFORM INTERFACE Uniform Interface
22. Website “Providers” Client Client Client Client Client Client goodapi.co ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS YOURS?
23. THE WAY OUT goodapi.co
24. API PRODUCT OWNER IS KEY TO SUCCESS No.5 goodapi.co
25. YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE EXPENSIVE API PROGRAM, JUST GET SOMEBODY WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR APIS AND WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM goodapi.co
26. API-FIRST IS STILL A MAJOR CHANGE FOR MANY COMPANIES goodapi.co
27. SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BOIL THE OCEAN No.6 goodapi.co
28. INCUMBENTS HEAVILY INVESTED IN FIRST WAVE goodapi.co SOAP, EDI, FTP, ESB, “private clouds” but also processes and trained experts.
29. CUSTOMERS FROM THE FIRST WAVE OFTEN DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SECOND WAVE goodapi.co
30. HOT POTATOES • API First, product owner present • Generation of API documentation from code • Building your own platform (cloud vs. own infrastructure) • Abuse of HTTP because first-wave customers “don’t get it” • Hypermedia • Versioning • Applying existing architecture and styles goodapi.co
31. OFTEN, A WRONG API STYLE IS USED The Right Architectural Style No.7 goodapi.co
32. PICK THE RIGHT ARCHITECTURAL STYLE Don’t jump on REST or GraphQL just because its #trending sometimes, sending a file is the right way to go goodapi.co
33. SIMPLICITY, TRENDS AND SPEED TODAY WINS OVER LONGEVITY AND SPEED TOMORROW goodapi.co
34. PREVENT UNINFORMED DECISIONS goodapi.co
35. TOOLS ARE OUR LIMITS No.8 goodapi.co
36. TOOLS ARE OUR LIMITS • Existing investments (tools, infrastructure & processes) • Bloated API Management Tools • Limiting API description formats • Data modeling from the past • Tooling for structured data goodapi.co
37. CANONICAL DATA MODEL DOESN’T WORK No.9 goodapi.co
38. CANONICAL DATA MODEL IS ANTI PATTERN IN MICROSERVICES AND FAAS WORLD goodapi.co Use concern separation, bounded context, DDD techniques
39. UNIFORM INTERFACE IS THE FUTURE No.10 goodapi.co
40. goodapi.co ENGINEERING PRINCIPLE OF GENERALITY 1957 2017
41. A CONSISTENT, PREDICTABLE WAY TO QUERY DATA AND EXERCISE ACTIONS REGARDLESS OF THE APPLICATION DOMAIN AND PROVIDER goodapi.co
42. WHY IS UI THE FUTURE? • Simplifies architecture • Improves visibility of interactions • Decouple components, enables evolution • Improves interoperability, reduces cost of integration • Reduces costs and time to market • Enables autonomous service discovery • ENABLES FOR GENERAL AI • Automatic clients • Autonomous clients goodapi.co
43. UNIVERSE OF CAPABILITIES goodapi.co
44. This is what Amazon (Alexa skills), Google (Home skills) & VIV are doing... DATABASE OF KNOWLEDGE AND SERVICES WITH UNIFORM INTERFACE goodapi.co
45. PATH TO UI • Platforms like StdLib / Algorithmia • Architectural Styles (REST, GraphQL) • Structured Data (JSON-LD) • AI Databases (Grakn.ai) • Or we leave it up to Amazon and Google to become the 3rd party, intermediaries, to the universe. goodapi.co
46. Do you want to provide a uniform interface or leave it to third-party vendors to do it? goodapi.co BUILDING YOUR NEXT API Client Client Client Client Client Provider Provider Client Client Structured Data & Architecural Style Client Client Client Provider Provider Provider - OR -
47. GOOD API Independent API Consulting https://goodapi.co