JJ Geewax - API Design Patterns

JJ Geewax

Foreword by Jon Skeet

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ISBN: 9781617295850

To Kai and Luca. You are awesome.

It started with a drum kit. In the summer of 2019, a friend of mine got me into drumming with an electronic kit, and I embraced it wholeheartedly. Sometimes I would actually play the drums, but I spent a rather larger proportion of my time writing code to interact with my drum kits configuration using MIDI SysEx commands.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I suddenly had rather different priorities in terms of considering the audio/visual needs of my local church, both while we were worshiping remotely and considering how we might meet in person again. This involved learning about protocols such as VISCA, NDI, and OSC (for cameras and audio mixers) as well as more software-oriented integration with Zoom, VLC, PowerPoint, Stream Deck, and more.

These projects dont have huge amounts of business logic. Almost all the code is integration code, which is at once frustrating and hugely empowering. Its frustrating because of protocols that are obscurely documented or arent really designed for the kind of usage Im trying to achieve, or are just inconsistent with each other. Its empowering because once youve cracked the integration aspect, you can write useful apps really easily, standing on the shoulders of multiple giants.

While my experience over the past couple of years has been primarily local integration, the same balance of frustration and empowerment applies with web APIs. Every experience Ive had of picking up a new web API has had a curve of emotional responses, including some mix of excitement, bewilderment, annoyance, acceptance, and eventual uneasy peace. Once you thoroughly understand a powerful API, it feels like youre the conductor of a magnificent orchestra, ready to play whatever music you provideeven if the violin players notes are only eventually consistent and you have to use a different color of baton for the brass section for no obvious reason.

This book wont change that on its own. Its only a book. But if you read it and follow its guidance, you can help to change the experience for your users. If lots of people read it and follow its guidance, together we might move the needle toward a more consistent and less frustrating web API experience.