Net API Notes for 2021/03/26 - Issue 156
I have a significant personal announcement coming next week; the run-up to that has been impeding my ability to get the newsletter out in a timely fashion. That said, sometimes there are some pieces too good not to share. So here we are - a rare Friday edition of the Net API Notes!
Quick! Before we run aground!
NOTES
DECOMPOSING LEGACY CODE EXAMPLE
The Virtual Domain-Driven Design group has been producing some fantastic events throughout the pandemic. In their latest session, they hosted Dr. Carola Lilienthal, author of Sustainable Software Practices. In the nearly two-hour video (!), Dr. Lilienthal presents a legacy codebase many of us might be familiar with, applies DDD principles, and identifies opportunities for decomposition (pro tip: start at the 9:40 mark and change playback to 1.25 speed). What's more, she's not just sharing slides but modifying code throughout.
Being successful with microservices has little to do with the technology stack used. Success is so much more about the process and approach to making sense of the problem space. This video is a superb example of how to do that.
MICROSERVICE IDEALS
As implied above, someone "getting into" microservices for the first time faces a daunting task. Paulo Merson recognized the pain. Familiar with object-orientated SOLID principles, he set out to find the microservices equivalent. The results are the Microservice Design IDEALS.
The acronym IDEALS stands for:
- Interface segregation
- Deployability (is on you)
- Event-driven
- Availability over consistency
- Loose coupling
- Single Responsibility
There's a tremendous amount of food for thought here.
INFOQ GRAPHQL REFERENCE GUIDE
From time to time, the folks at InfoQ release a reference guide, or a highly concentrated summary, on a single topic. This month, Daniel Bryant published "GraphQL Reference Guide: Building Flexible and Understandable APIs".
The piece doesn't just provide a comprehensive overview. It also serves as a jumping-off point, listing copious links to additional resources. Daniel posits that GraphQL has "crossed the diffusion of innovation chasm" but still has ongoing work "in relation to scaling and federating GraphQL schema".
If you're interested in a GraphQL kickstart, this is a great place to start.
MILESTONES
- The APIDays conference dropped numerous recently recorded presentations to their YouTube page. Helsinki's presentations join the also distributed Jakarta talks.
- In a recent case, cybersecurity student Daylam Tayari noticed changes to Twitch's API suggested a new streamer rating for advertisers. I'm less interested in Twitch scoring its talent. What is interesting to me is how API surveillance is turning into business journalism.
- Twitter acquihires the Reshuffle team to work on its API platform.
- Automation company UiPath has acquired Cloud Elements, an API Integration platform.
- Mehdi Medjaoui received a grant to build a "Creative Commons" for API terms of service. The intention is to create a machine-readable contract used between infrastructure providers and applications.
WRAPPING UP
March has been a busy month for recorded API conversations:
- First, I chatted with the Toro Cloud folks about API Governance, digital transformation, and the people bits in-between.
- Next, I discussed Pace Layer Theory and how it relates to technology change on the API storytellers vlog. (I've presented and waxed prophetic on Pace Layering in the past; it remains an effective mental model for me.)
- Finally, Erik Wilde tried to bait me into a GraphQL tizzy over on his 'Getting APIs to Work' channel, but I think I managed to avoid that minefield.
Also, API events are still happening! You can find the list at NetAPI.events. If you have an event to add, let me know, and I'll be glad to add it.
Finally, thank you for your attention and to the Patreons who enable this newsletter to remain ad-free! That means a lot to me. And, based on the subscription numbers, others do too!
Till next time,
Matthew @libel_vox and matthewreinbold.com