REST API Notes for 2018/05/30
Hello! Hopefully people had a restful (and safe) Memorial Day Weekend. I anticipate a slowdown in impactful, nuanced API discussion now that the unofficial start to summer is here. If previous years are any indication, August (like the month from mid-December to mid-January) will be an ideal time to hit the newsletter snooze button. If you hear of any events during that time, let me know.
Now, onto the notes!
SEGMENT LAUNCHES CENTRIFUGE
If I mention a launch, it is normally under the milestone section. However, Segment has created a fantastic case study to share with folks. It deals with Segment's method of reliably sending billions of messages per day.
From the article by Calvin French-Owen:
"You can think of Centrifuge as the layer that sits between our infrastructure and the outside world–it's the system responsible for sending data to all of our customers destinations. When third-party APIs fail, Centrifuge is there to absorb the traffic."
If your software architecture relies on a number of 3rd party API calls, or you find Kafka's push/pop queuing model too limiting, definitely check this article out.
HOW MICROSERVICES CAN FUEL INNOVATION
Mike Amundsen, writing on the New Stack, has a piece on microservice APIs and innovation. This isn't the first rodeo for many of us, and the term "digital transformation" may elicit a reflexive eyeroll. But company cultures able to embrace API practices are reaping the benefits.
What does success look like? Mike quickly covers the highlights. While the governance recommendations are almost exclusively tailored to the technical bits, and light on the actual means of governing (what I've found to be the most challenging in this role), it still is a great primer for folks.
CHOOSING BETWEEN RPC, REST OR QUERY LANGUAGE
Dogmatic folks will argue, till their last keypress, of one API pattern being superior to the others. Others recognize the strengths and weaknesses inherent to all and pick the best tool for the job. Phil Sturgeon has done a fantastic job identifying the critical criteria related to each, and put it into a handy-dandy flowchart.
Do you care about network caching? Does your API cross bounded contexts? There's some great food-for-thought here. Even if you may, ultimately, not agree with the recommendations, asking the kind of questions posed will positively impact your API design.
MILESTONES
- Speaking of Phil, he's updated OpenAPI.tools to include which items have Open API 3.0 specification support. A couple years ago, I had friendly debates with a college about whether 'taking advantage of an ecosystem of tooling' was a valid argument for using a standardized API description format. Given all the items listed, it turns out I won that bet.
- Following last week's milestone that companies were concerned over Twitter API pricing changes comes word that Favstar will shut down.
WRAPPING UP
The meetups for June have been added to webapi.events, including a new Paris-based group, API (dot) Culture). I'm sure there are probably more that I missed. If you have an in-person event, let me know? I'm always happy to include community building activities, regardless of whey they may be in the world. Either respond to this note directly or send me an email at 'hello@matthewreinbold.com'.
Til next time,
Matthew