Net API Notes for 2020/06/19 - Issue 134 - Juneteenth
Happy Juneteenth!
I hope all of you reading this are safe and healthy.
If there is a sliver of a silver lining to sheltering in place, it is having more time to sample the amazing collection of #BlackLivesMatter media collected by the major streaming services. Michael B. Jordan and Brie Larson trade in their superhero tights for the compelling Just Mercy (2019), on Amazon Prime Video. Based on a true story, it describes how civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson got his start defending condemned death row prisoners. The Uncomfortable Truth (2017), also on Amazon, is a filmmaker's journey through the 400-year history of institutional racism and his family's role in it. On Netflix, Ava DuVernay's 13th (2016) pulls no punches in its examination of racism and the industrial prison system.
If you're reading this newsletter, you value continued education. This Juneteenth, I challenge my white peers to take a moment from their software pursuits and focus their considerable learning capacity on the topics of race and equality in America. It is not the responsibility of your black neighbor, your black co-worker, or your one black friend to educate you on the long and disconcerting history of race in this country. Our knowledge gap is a white people problem. Even for folks that may feel relatively well-educated, the stories we were told usually didn't include all the details.
It is a challenge. At times, I've found myself deeply uncomfortable. And I'm trying to be better in the midst of global pandemic stress. If this is just too much for you at the moment, I get it. This stuff isn't going anywhere. An entire wealth of enlightenment waits for when you're ready for it.
However, if you fear engaging because any alternate idea may topple your precarious facade of a worldview, I can't help you.
Besides that, I only have one note of mention this week.
NOTES
ALBERTO BRANDOLINI, OF EVENT STORMING FAME, ON BOUNDED CONTEXTS AND MICROSERVICES
Nick Tune posted the most succint, powerful definition of bounded contexts I have ever read. He recently tweeted that a bounded context is:
"a bet we make on the things that will change together"
Alberto Brandolini expounds on bounded contexts in his post, "Boundned Contexts and Microservices". Alberto goes into great detail on how bounded contexts are close, but not quite, a 1-to-1 match with microservice architecture. It is a very good piece and worth anyone's time to check out.
MILESTONES
- Postman Raises $150m, reaching a $2B Valuation. That's a nice chunk of change.
- The OpenAI group, which once proclaimed its work was too powerful to share, has now launched an API. Examples exhibiting embarrassing racial and gender bias were found almost immediately. Then, there are also the cases where things get weird.
- Irakli Nadareishvili and Ronnie Mitra are working on a new book, "Microservices Up & Running". It should be released later this year. (Disclosure: Irakli is my boss, and I am in no way contractually obligated to say that his emails are as inviting as a sunbeam across a comfy couch.)
- OpenAPI 3.1.0 RCO is now available.
WRAPPING UP
We've reached the Final Four *Most Impactful API Trend, Technique, or Tool! While the Elite 8 didn't matched the number of overturned apple carts as the previous round, picking winners doesn't get any easier! Vote now on Twitter.
Also, NetAPI.events remains a place to find events, online and off, with your fellow API practitioners, including the recently re-announced API Specs Conference (or ASC). If you know of an upcoming API-related community gathering that isn't listed, I want to know! I'd be glad to document it.
Lastly, thank you to the Patreons who support this newsletter.
Till next time,
Matthew @libel_vox and matthewreinbold.com