One day I can say “Amazon did that, we should do it too” and may be quite displeased to hear “but, we’re not Amazon”. And the next one, I can be quite displeased to hear “Github did that, we should do it too” and respond “it’s not because Github did it, that we should do it too”. Why such inconsistency?

While doing API design reviews and API design training sessions, I often see resource paths designed in an anarchic way. By anarchic, I mean their various levels seem to have been chosen randomly or some of them seem at awkward places. But why should such paths should be considered wrong? Let’s see a few examples of how to not design resource paths to talk about it.

This post is dedicated to all English as a Second, or Foreign, Language (ESL, EFL) API designers. Et tout spécialement mes compatriotes français! Designing APIs is already not that easy when you design them using your native language. But, it’s even more difficult when using a second one. So let’s see how to avoid design frenglish, itaglish or whateverglish APIs.

Doing an API design review is not only about that, but it will require, sooner or later, to analyze an interface contract. Use the wrong tools to do so, and reviews will become a terrible, never-ending burden. Use the right tools, and you’ll become a formidable machine, doing reviews at light speed, never missing the tiniest problem or question. But, after dozens of reviews, you may realize that, despite using the “right” existing tools, the API space actually lacks API design reviews specialized tools.

Yesterday, I live demoed how I take advantage of the OpenAPI Specification during an API Design review at the API Specification Conference. This session was really live, not recorded like my previous one, and that didn’t totally went well. Though I was quite happy to discover new tricks, I had problems preparing this session and worse I also had problems giving it. Nothing that terrible hopefully, but still terribly annoying and stressful. I need a cathartic post to talk about all that.

After my first recorded live demo session, here comes my first non recorded actually live session in which I show how I take advantage of the OpenAPI Specification during API design reviews. Note that I experienced some technical issues during this session, you’ll find the story in my “Barely surviving my first live (non recorded) demo session” post.

API all the things! Whatever the reason, IT optimization or digital transformation, it’s nowadays fairly common to APIfy an existing system, making it available through APIs. What is also very common is to not totally grasp the implications of doing so and especially overlooking complexity, security and capacity concerns.

I was invited by David Brown and Kevin Montalbo for Toro Cloud’s Coding Over Cocktail podcast. We discussed API consistency, how to make your APIs more discoverable, defining and setting the boundaries between an API gateway and API implementation, and choosing the right API architecture and technology for the right problem.

I was invited to Stoplight’s API Intersection podcast hosted by my two good friends Jason Harmon and Adam Duvander. As it was Stoplight’s “Style Guide September”, we discussed one of my favorite topics, covered quickly in my book The Design of Web APIs, and that I practice everyday helping people to create APIs: API design style guides.

I regularly participate to CFP (Call For Proposals) aiming to choose a software solution. My role is to analyze solutions from an API perspective. And I do that even if there’s no specific API concern regarding the context in which the CFP is made. Why doing so and what to look at? This should be of interest for people having to choose a solution but also to people proposing them. Indeed, some (corporate) software solution vendors should take this seriously … Unless they want to finish at the bottom of the list.