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diff --git a/programming/about_apis.md b/programming/about_apis.md deleted file mode 100644 index 2c44f41e..00000000 --- a/programming/about_apis.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,31 +0,0 @@ -# About APIs - -The [Jeff Bezos' API memo](https://gist.github.com/kislayverma/d48b84db1ac5d737715e8319bd4dd368) is one of the most talked stories about API programming. - -It is, in my opinion, also one of those things which are successful for some environments, but not for all. - -## The levels of API accessibility - -An "operation" in your application can be in one of the following levels of "API accessibility": - -* -oo The operation cannot be invoked in isolation easily. -For instance, it is embedded in an MVC controller, mixed with form handling and HTML generation, and thus the best approach to invoke it programatically is to simulate a browser -* 0 The operation can be invoked, in-process, by calling a function or method, but requiring complex setup or using complex types (e.g. others than lists, maps, numbers and strings) -* 1 The operation can be invoked, in-process, by calling a function without complex setup and using plain types -* 2 The operation can be invoked, off-process, by calling a function without complex setup and using plain types -* 3 The operation can be invoked via a command line tool -* 4 The operation can be invoked via a network call - -Many proponents of APIs propose level 4 as the target. -This obviously allows your operations to be integrated in separate processes via network calls, which is the most powerful way of API access. -They will also reason that this will force your application to have a clean architecture with separation of concerns. - -Note also that doing proper testing will probably force your operations to be tested to be in levels 0-2, as otherwise it will be annoyingly complex to test them. - -We propose that the architecture benefits of level 4 are also present in levels 0-3, but achieving these levels requires much less effort than achieving level 4 (where you need to add a network protocol, handle aspects such as authentication/authorization, marshalling/unmarshalling, etc.), so unless you require level 4, you can stay in levels 0-3. -Going to level 3 instead of 0 should be easy when creating new operations, so that's the level of API accessibility we recommend new code to adhere to by default. - -Note also that level 3 can provide many benefits of level 4, but with less development overhead, so it's a level we recommend considering explicitly, as it is often overlooked. - -Level -oo is typical of legacy applications. -Note that we consider the distance between level -oo and the rest of levels much bigger than the distance between the rest of levels. |