Episode Ep 14 April 7, 2025 2 hr 22 min

APIs: Design Imperfectly, Improve Relentlessly

APIs are built, not born, so how do we go about actually building them? Well, it starts with design. In this episode, Kris and Ian are joined by Jamie Tanna to talk about API design. From creating a theory of your API, through building its foundation, to actively prototyping as you design, the panel discusses what they've learned over the years to design high quality APIs. At the end we have unpopular opinions, but we also have a bonus behind the scenes look at howe we create episodes of this podcast. Make sure to stick around until the end of the episode for that content!

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Notes:

Table of Contents:

Prologue (01:14)
Chapter 1: Designing APIs (02:56)
- You will make mistakes (03:53)
- Inventing things from whole cloth (06:56)
- There is no correct (13:01)
Chapter 2: A Theory of Your API (21:02)
- Creating a foundation (34:40)
- Starting from your database schema (38:59)
Chapter 3: Prior Art (50:48)
Chapter 4: Design Requires Code (01:03:08)
Chapter 5: The Happy Path (01:09:52)
Chapter 6: Application Transactions (01:14:41)
Chapter 7: What Is Forever? (01:18:39)
Chapter 8: Separate Application & Transfer (01:38:09)
Chapter 9: Stop Doing RESTful Nonsense (01:44:36)
- Ian's relationship with SOAP is complicated (01:52:12)
Chapter 10: Concrete Challenges with Correctness (01:53:02)
Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (01:59:46)
- Jamie's Surprise Unpop (01:59:50)
- Jamie's Second Unpop (02:16:47)
Epilogue (02:19:47)