Developing JSON API for a Carpool Engine

Question

I am developing a new set of API methods for carpooling/cab booking, so if a developer needs to develop an app or webportal for carpooling, he can call my JSON API. Basically making it easy for developers.

My API current has:

• AddVehicle
• AddJourney
• SearchJourney
• SubscribeToThisJourney(journey)
• SubscriberList(journey) to get list of people who have subscribed for this journey
• AcceptSubscription(subscriber)
• AcceptedSubcriberList
• SubscriberList to get list of providers I have subscribed to

I need help with replacing subscriber with something else. It's difficult to remember, and confusing when you see 3 methods that mean very different things: SubscriberList, SubscribedToThisJourneyList and AcceptedSubscriberList. Confusing to remember.

• One is a list of who I have subscribed to
• Who has subscribed to me
• Whose subscription I have accepted

How can I name these methods to make them easier to understand and remember?

Answer 1

Here are some suggestions for names for the three methods that you list as needing attention:

• One is a list of who I have subscribed to - based on your earlier description for SubscriberList, I assume by 'who' you mean which providers, so a clearer version might be: ProvidersSubscribedTo(user)
• Who has subscribed to me - assuming this is meant to list the subscribers who I, as a Provider, have not yet accepted: PendingSubscribers(provider)
• Whose subscription I have accepted - AcceptedSubscribers(provider)

I've used parameters to indicate the context of the method call, so depending on how the calls are made, they might not be required.

Answer 2

I do not see a problem with your chosen names, as the verb subscribe and the noun subscriber have very different (but rightly) related meanings in English.

Proper documentation is going to be key here.