|
Apologies for the somewhat general question, but I’ve been reading a few of the links on this page, and many of them:
Do you know of any resources on API design with several different examples and/or case studies illustrating the principles? |
|||||
|
As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.
|
Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries, written by Microsoft architects Krzysztof Cwalina and Brad Abrams. This book gives clear DO and DO NOT advice for designing class libraries. Although heavily focussed on .NET, the book contains much general advice useful to anyone developing a class library. |
|||
|
|
|
I found the video "How To Design A Good API and Why it Matters", a recording of a Google TechTalk, to be very interesting. Other than that just Google on "api design best practices" and you'll find a multitude of best practice advice articles and blogs. |
|||||||
|
|
I'm currently reading Effective Java by Joshua Bloch, and if you are programming API for Java he has many great advices. This only applies if you are programming Java, but if you are, I'd say this is required reading. |
|||
|
|
If you'll forgive the self promotion, I have written a book on API Design that was just published by Morgan Kaufmann in the past few weeks. It's focused on C++, although the first few chapters are generic in nature and offer general advice on what makes a good API and how to go about designing high-quality and long-lasting APIs. I attempt to illustrate all of the concepts with actual code examples (which you can download and play with yourself). I also cover the entire API development pipeline including design, styles, implementation, testing, documenting, versioning, extending, etc. You can read more about the book to see if it looks interesting to you at: http://APIBook.com/ |
|||
|
|
On iTunes U, there’s a WWDC 2010 session video called “Session 138 — API Design”, which has Bertrand Serlet explaining the design ideas behind Apple’s Objective-C APIs. |
|||
|
|
|
Not sure if your question includes web APIs, but I've found RESTful Web Services: Web services for the real world By Leonard Richardson, Sam Ruby To be quite excellent. It focuses on REST APIs, gives a lot of good examples and argues against the RPC approach. A must have for anyone designing a Web API IMO. |
|||
|
|
A good collection of "rules of thumb" for API design were collected by Joshua Bloch in his article "Bumper-sticker API design". |
|||
|
|
