An application programming interface (API) is the specification for which software is meant to be used by other software.
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What is the term that means “keeping the arguments for different API calls as similar as possible”?
There is a word which I can never remember... it expresses a design goal that API calls (or functions or methods or whatever) should be as similar as reasonably possible in their argument patterns. ...
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7answers
334 views
Why do certain code elements (classes, methods etc.) in public APIs get deprecated over time?
Today our professor discussed with the class that what "class X or method X get deprecated" means? From what I understood, it means, for example, that we are not going to get that method or class in ...
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2answers
471 views
Why does the add() method of a Linkedlist return true in Java?
Why does the add method of a Linkedlist return true in Java?
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/LinkedList.html#add(E)
Why not just make it a void method? I know it says "per the ...
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5answers
1k views
RESTFul: state changing actions
I'am planning to build RESTfull API but there are some architectural questions that are creating some problems in my head. Adding backend bussiness logic to clients is option that I would like to ...
5
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2answers
534 views
Is HTTPS enough to avoid replay attacks?
I am exposing a few REST methods on a server for an mobile app.
I would like to avoid that users can sniff how HTTP methods are built (from the mobile app) and then send them again to the server. ...
5
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2answers
275 views
API/Technical Writers Guide [closed]
Is there any good book/tutorial/guide for programmers, which can help them to write good programming documentation/tutorials/guides?
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3answers
365 views
What is the need for 'discoverability' in a REST API when the clients are not advanced enough to make use of it anyway?
The various talks I have watched and tutorials I scanned on REST seem to stress something called 'discoverability'. To my limited understanding, the term seems to mean that a client should be able to ...
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3answers
251 views
How do I assess tradeoff between robustness and “lazy” code in API design?
Postel's law:
Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others.
"Lazy" code (per The Pragmatic Programmer):
Be strict in what you will accept before you begin, and ...
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2answers
374 views
How to document requirements for an API systematically?
I am currently working on a project, where I have to analyze the requirements of two given IT systems, that use cloud computing, for a Cloud API. In other words, I have to analyze what requirements ...
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4answers
337 views
GPL vs plugin interfaces not designed with a specific application in mind
I am not seeking or in need of legal advice, but an interesting though experiment came to my mind.
Imagine the following situtation (I cannot really think about a concrete example and I am unsure if ...
5
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2answers
284 views
Sharing API's between different Programming languages?
I was just wondering how API's can be shared between different Programming languages.
I mean, MS have .Net which uses VB.net C# and various other technologies.
I doubt .Net is written for each ...
5
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2answers
133 views
API design involving standard and custom settings
Suppose a class allows some kind of configuration that has some well-known default values but also has the option of defining a custom value. For example, suppose you want to let users configure a ...
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2answers
220 views
Is there an API for determining congressional districts?
I'm looking to determine the congressional district based on an address my user is providing. This will avoid having the user to look it up themselves.
Does an API of this sort exist?
Note
Through ...
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3answers
191 views
When you write wrappers for APIs how do you handle usage errors?
When you write wrappers for APIs how do you handle usage errors?
Do you assume that the user uses it right and write the wrapper such that it makes the call to the server and let the server return ...
5
votes
2answers
144 views
Web API URI Schema Design
I'm in the middle of designing an API for a very basic flashcard application for learning purposes and I'm wondering if you all think there can be any improvements.
In the app, a Folder contains ...
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1answer
418 views
API Auth vs User Auth
I have read many posts and articles on this topic but still cant connect the dots. I want to make a Rails app that is strictly a JSON API maybe using Sinatra or the rails-api gem. I also want to make ...
5
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3answers
354 views
How should a web API handle misspelled/extra parameters?
Question: For a public facing web API(send HTTP Get/Post requests, get JSON/XML data back), how should parameters be handled that are either misspelled or are extra.
It seems to me that if the ...
5
votes
1answer
172 views
Asynchronously returning a hierarchal data using .NET TPL… what should my return object “look” like?
I want to use the .NET TPL to asynchronously do a DIR /S and search each subdirectory on a hard drive, and want to search for a word in each file... what should my API look like?
In this scenario I ...
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6answers
729 views
Testing a REST client against a REST Server. How to do fixtures?
When writing unit tests, it's common to use fixtures: little testable data, so we can say:
1. Get all clients should include Willy Wonka.
2. Delete client 3, and now get clients should not include ...
4
votes
5answers
288 views
How to remember the details (Core APIs) of one computer language?
I found my self often paused to check a certain usage of one core API when writing either javascript or Ruby. I am wondering how the other guys doing? Is it necessary to remember every Core API ...
4
votes
2answers
371 views
Deprecate a web API: Best Practices?
Eventually you need to depreciate parts of your public web API. However I'm confused on what would be the best way to do it. If you have a large 3rd party app base just yanking old versions of the API ...
4
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3answers
195 views
Creating a webservice API - how much “credit” should I give the client/developer
When creating a web service API, how much should I count on the developer to act by my rules?
We are really aimed on creating an API so the developers shouldn't develop client side logic too much...
...
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2answers
345 views
Trailing slash in RESTful API
I have been having a debate about what to do with a trailing slash in a RESTful API.
Lets say I have a resource called dogs and subordinate resources for individual dogs. We can therefore do the ...
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2answers
115 views
Establishing an API to provide end-user apps/scripts access to multiple types of databases
Question and Context
I am currently working on a project where the main question is, how do we insert an API between the database and end-users who may develop applications/scripts of their own that ...
4
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2answers
410 views
Implementing the command pattern in a RESTful API
I'm in the process of designing an HTTP API, hopefully making it as RESTful as possible.
There are some actions which functionality spreads over a few resources, and sometime needs to be undone.
I ...
4
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8answers
434 views
Doing 'more' with C on Windows than very simple programs?
I'm currently learning C via 'C Primer Plus' as recommended by a lot of people here and I'm finding it very interesting - the in-depth explanations of how and why we do certain things in C are great ...
4
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1answer
246 views
When to use nested resources in a RESTful API
I have two resources: users and links.
Users can have several links associated with them. I have designed my RESTful API so that you can reach the links associated with a user at the following URI:
...
4
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2answers
261 views
What methods were used for online payments before API's and Paypal, etc
What methods (in programming/web dev terms) were used to take payments online before such things as Paypal, Google Checkout and various gateways and API's.
How were such transactions carried out?
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2answers
436 views
What are the best patterns/designs for stateful API development?
I am about to implement a API for my TCP/IP server written in Java. Right now I have a temporary method that takes a String, executes a command based on the String and returns a String basically like ...
4
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2answers
176 views
Requiring Explicit Null Reference Handling
One of the problems I have with null references is that they may not be exceptional. In my current position, there are few requirements and you are lucky if conventions are followed. This means being ...
4
votes
1answer
131 views
Is there a standard for machine-readable descriptions of RESTful services?
I've interacted with a few RESTful APIs that provided excellent documentation for humans and descriptive URIs, but none of them seem to return machine-readable descriptions of themselves.
It's not ...
4
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3answers
251 views
iOS: Versioned static frameworks vs Git Submodules and included code
For the last couple of years I've been building static frameworks of common APIs for my iOS projects. I can build a universal binary containing all the architectures (i386, armv6, armv7) and wrap it ...
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3answers
472 views
What should I name these methods?
I have two interfaces, one with and one without generic type parameters. The non-generic interface is used internally so that I can store instances of the generic interface in a collection. All would ...
4
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6answers
807 views
Reverse engineering airline reservations systems
I saw an interesting conversation on here about airline reservation systems and the services that connect them (like Sabre).
This is an almost identical analog to a problem I've been trying to figure ...
4
votes
1answer
561 views
Authentication for users on a Single Page App?
I have developed a single page app prototype that is using Backbone on the front end and going to consume from a thin RESTful API on the server for it's data.
Coming from heavy server side ...
4
votes
1answer
80 views
Retexturing a model via API on the web
I'm looking at creating a site where a user could see our product and configure the options or look of it and see an image that represents that.
The way I'm doing it now is if you have Piece A ...
4
votes
1answer
299 views
Eloqua API Full Code Example in JAVA
Is there anyone out there who has mastered to retrieve some data programmatically from Eloqua?
First of all, I'm more or less a newbie, as far as JAVA. I can follow tutorials, take directions and ...
4
votes
1answer
726 views
Why has the PowerCollections C# library recently declined in popularity?
I just looked at the statistics for the PowerCollections C# library and noticed a sharp decrease in quantity of downloads.
What may be the cause? Is there something better I should be using?
4
votes
2answers
106 views
Custom functions in a REST API
Looking at two of our entities Company and Address. A company has a billingAddress and a profileAddress.
I'm unsure of how to implement a function to set the billing address versus the profile. Here ...
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7answers
349 views
Better name for existsByUserNameAndPassword()
I wonder if there is a better name for a DB API function called existsByUserNameAndPassword() which returns boolean. There are more function called like this: existsByOldId()... It sounds a little bit ...
3
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7answers
2k views
What is the best way to remember Java APIs? [duplicate]
I have been doing Java for nearly a year now and I have difficulty remembering Java APIs and method names. What is the best way to remember them?
3
votes
7answers
2k views
How do I search the Java API? [closed]
Since the Java API pages have no search function, at least not one that I see, how do I find out what methods are in which packages?
3
votes
4answers
625 views
Paranoid Encryption
Call me paranoid, but I really like to keep my stuff secret, but readily available on the cloud. So, asking this question.
How safe and reliable is encryption software (e.g., truecrypt)? The reason ...
3
votes
4answers
270 views
Is deprecating a real commitment?
If you deprecate something, are you guaranteeing you will get rid of it in the next major release? Is it reasonable to take two or three releases before you get rid of it completely?
Update: ...
3
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5answers
377 views
In my API, how can I make knowing implementation details unnecessary?
Is it feasible that we have a layer of API simply for the reason so that people in the team don't have to understand the actual implementation of the individual components each of us are working on?
...
3
votes
5answers
274 views
Is It OK to Develop Against a 3rd Party Library You Discover?
If you find out a way to interact with a web service API that is not publicly documented as available, and can emulate it within an application you develop, is it illegal to do so? Furthermore is it ...
3
votes
3answers
406 views
Was API hooking done as needed for Stuxnet to work? I don't think so
Caveat: I am a political science student and I have tried my level best to understand the technicalities; if I still sound naive please overlook that.
In the Symantec report on Stuxnet, the authors ...
3
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1answer
298 views
API Design Question
I am currently designing a API and have come to a slight design issue and was hoping for a few other opinions. My url structure for accessing basic data from the API is: ...
3
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3answers
232 views
How can I ensure a method is called only once when using a API?
In general, if I am using an API whose methods have side-effects that I only want to occur once, how can I guarantee that my own application only calls them once even if an error occurs before it can ...
3
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2answers
217 views
How can you provide a public writeable API and not get spammed?
So say you had a site like StackExchange. Now imagine you created a machine-writeable API capable of posting questions and comments and doing everything your browser can do.
Of course, about 5 ...
