Stop Designing Fragile Web APIs

My customers will be angry if I break my API. When you release your Web API, it’s carved into stone. It’s a scary commitment to never make an incompatible change. If you fail, you’ll have irate customers yelling in your inbox, followed by your boss, and then your boss’s boss. You have to support this API. Forever. Unless you version it, right? After publishing The Web API Checklist, I received comments (#1, #2) regarding API versioning. Before you struggle with how to version your API, I want you to know how to design your API to avoid future incompatibilities. If... [Read More]

The Web API Checklist -- 43 Things To Think About When Designing, Testing, and Releasing your API

When you’re designing, testing, or releasing a new Web API, you’re building a new system on top of an existing complex and sophisticated system. At a minimum, you’re building upon HTTP, which is built upon TCP/IP, which is built upon a series of tubes. You’re also building upon a web server, an application framework, and maybe an API framework. Most people, myself included, are not aware of all the intricacies and nuances of every component they’re building upon. Even if you deeply understand each component, it’s probably going to be too much information to hold in your head at one... [Read More]

Embedding Python Tips

Python is a beautiful programming language. One of it’s most wonderful features is a very clean and simple C API that allows Python to be extended with dynamically loadable C modules. That same C API also allows Python to be embedded in other pieces of software. This means that any program can allow the user to enter Python code interactively (or otherwise) to affect the program in whatever way they wish. This is a powerful capability, but using occasionally requires a few tricks to accomplish the embedder’s goals. [Read More]