5. Cra$ing
APIs
• API
Design
• API
Interface
• Documenta3on
• Versioning
• Adver3sing
• Community
Building
• Feedback/Discussion
Channel
• Communica3on/no3fica3on
• Tooling
• Lifecycle
6. API
Design
• Joshua
Bloch,
How
To
Design
A
Good
API
And
Why
It
MaJers,
hJp://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAb7hSCtvGw
7. API
Interface
• Contract
between
you
&
outside
world
o Honor
it
–
all
the
3me
• Input
formats
• Output
formats
• Availability
• Performance
figures
• QoS
8. DocumentaEon
• Most
important
channel
between
your
APIs
&
developers
• Has
to
be,
o Up-‐to-‐date
o Descrip3ve
o Sufficient
examples
o Reader
friendly
o Intui3ve
o Searchable
9. API
Versioning
• Evolu3on
!!
• Backward
compa3bility
of,
o Func3onality
• Forward
compa3bility
of
o Access
Tokens
o Rates/ThroJling
agreements
•
Different
versioning
mechanisms
10. API
Versioning
• Version
as
query
parameter
o Ne`lix
-‐
hJp://api.ne`lix.com/catalog/3tles/series/70023522?v=1.5
o Google
Data
API
-‐
“GData-‐Version:
X.0″₺
or
“v=X.0″₺
• Version
as
part
of
URI
o Salesforce
-‐
hJps://na1.salesforce.com/services/data/v20.0/
sobjects/Account/
o TwiJer
-‐
hJps://api.twiJer.com/1.1/statuses/
men3ons_3meline.json
11. API
Versioning
• Version
as
date
in
URI
o Twillo
(hJp://www.twilio.com/docs/api/rest/making-‐calls)
-‐
/
2010-‐04-‐01/Accounts/{AccountSid}/Calls
• Version
as
a
Custom
HTTP
Header
• Version
as
part
of
Accept
Header
• Version
as
part
of
Content-‐Type
12. Community
• Ac3ve
user
community
is
an
‘asset’
• Protect
them
• Encourage
them
• Facilitate
them
o Forums
o Ra3ngs
o Discussion
boards/wikis
o Compe33ons
o Offers
o Early
adaptor/beta
users
o Advisory
panels
13. CommunicaEon/NoEficaEon
• Constantly
communicate
with
your
community
o Upcoming
features
o Offers/compe33ons,
etc.
• Support
for
automa3c
no3fica3ons
o Subscrip3on
capabili3es
o Selec3on/filtering
capabili3es
15. API
Lifecycle
• An
API
can
pass
through
mul3ple
states
• Can
be
one
of,
• CREATED
• PUBLISHED
• DEPRECATED
• RETIRED
• BLOCKED
• Integra3on
with
a
complete
governance
lifecycle
–
upcoming
feature
36. Extensible
• Custom
sign
up
UIs
• Sign
up
for
Store
• Sign
up
for
publisher
• Custom
workflow
extensions
• Sign
up
flow
for
store/publisher
• API
Subscrip3on
flow
• Custom
representa3ons
of
UI
data
• Theming
• Powered
by
backend
data
APIs
-‐>
JSON
• Custom
Data
Summariza3on
formats
41. Metering
• API
Access
Sta3s3cs
-‐>
Metering
data
• Metering
Data
-‐>
Billing
System
• Exten3ons
• Ability
to
create
custom
summary
data
• Apache
Hive
Scripts
• Mul3ple
data
source
support
42. Monetization
• Decision
for
having
an
API
should
be
backed
by
a
clear
objec3ve.
Can
be
one
of,
• Developer
adop3on
• Community
building
• Revenue
genera3on
• And
many
more..
• Revenue
Genera3on
….
o Requires
a
billing
model
