how to design and build a great web api
DESCRIPTION
APIs and API-first strategies are quickly becoming important for software product companies. These slides are from a lightning talk discussing why developer experience should be your #1 concern when launching a web API, and how everyone on your team can contribute to the process through the practice of API modeling.TRANSCRIPT
The World of APIs
Estimated 100-200k APIs
We help API developers go from…
…to this
6
APIs Are More Than Code
Applications - Business CapabilitiesData – Inbound and OutboundDevices – Always on/Sometimes onWorkflow - orchestrationPeople – users and developers
Developer Experience (“DX”)
Developer Experience is to Developers
asUser Experience is to Users
9
Make It Easy To Love Your API
1) Great documentation
Bad Developer Experience
Swagger for API docs
Interactive = “Try It Out!”
Make It Easy To Love Your API
1) Great documentation2) Simple examples
Twilio Example
Make It Easy To Love Your API
1) Interactive documentation2) Great examples3) Consistent
Not REST!
REST!
How can we ensure a great developer
experience?
Modeling REST APIsSimilar to wireframing or domain modelingREST focuses on resourcesResources can be entities and workflowsModeling enhances our understanding
5 Steps to API Modeling1. Identify the participants2. Identify the activities3. Separate the activities into steps4. List resources and methods5. Validate for completeness
Modeling is FunThe goal is to design a beautiful API Involve your entire team:Developers, QA, Business Analysts Product Owners, Subject Matter ExpertsHave fun with it!
Thank you!
