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Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#51

Post by archagon »

dasmoth wrote: post #33

Possibly depends what you mean by "API", but I really like the SQLite documentation with its graphical representations of the query syntax.

The SQLite docs were frequently better than blog posts or SO questions about my issues, which was a first for me.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#52

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

Airtable's API. Every API document is specific to you, playing around with GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE requests is really straightforward to understand, even for someone that isn't familiar with how these requests normally work.

The sample json responses are also based on your data too, and the docs showcase what those look like

Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#54

Post by joezydeco »

dasmoth wrote: post #33

Possibly depends what you mean by "API", but I really like the SQLite documentation with its graphical representations of the query syntax.

Backus-Naur diagrams are sweet. I used to covet the one that Apple put out for Apple Pascal:

https://www.bytecellar.com/2004/06/15/apples_pascal_s/

Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#55

Post by dasmoth »

joezydeco wrote: post #54
dasmoth wrote: post #33

Possibly depends what you mean by "API", but I really like the SQLite documentation with its graphical representations of the query syntax.

Backus-Naur diagrams are sweet. I used to covet the one that Apple put out for Apple Pascal: https://www.bytecellar.com/2004/06/15/apples_pascal_s/

Oh, that poster is nice!

And thanks for giving me a name for them, too.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#56

Post by Jeff_Brown »

Not an API, but the documentation for Haskell libraries is unbelievably good. Here's an example[1]. This documentation is generated automatically from source code, optionally decorated with comments using a simple syntax called Haddock[2]. Any package, whether it's built into the Haskell Platform or contributed by a user, has the same kind of documentation. Even if the author includes no Haddock comments, the documentation will include the type signatures, the hyperlinking, the instance lists, and other goodies like the minimal set of functions needed to define an instance of a class.

[1] http://hackage.haskell.org/package/base-4.11.1.0/docs/Data-L... [2] https://www.haskell.org/haddock/

Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#58

Post by joezydeco »

dasmoth wrote: post #55
joezydeco wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Backus-Naur diagrams are sweet. I used to covet the one that Apple put out for Apple Pascal: https://www.bytecellar.com/2004/06/15/apples_pascal_s/

Oh, that poster is nice! And thanks for giving me a name for them, too.

In my mind I picture Steve Jobs dropping a little acid and staring at this poster for a few hours...

Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#59

Post by yesenadam »

kencausey wrote: post #57

Common Lisp HyperSpec - http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Front/index... My choice is, perhaps, more indicative of taste/proclivity than anything else.

It also has the best motto on the internet: The very definition of class.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best API documentation you have ever seen?

#60

Post by Jugurtha »

joezydeco wrote: post #54
dasmoth wrote: post #33

Possibly depends what you mean by "API", but I really like the SQLite documentation with its graphical representations of the query syntax.

Backus-Naur diagrams are sweet. I used to covet the one that Apple put out for Apple Pascal: https://www.bytecellar.com/2004/06/15/apples_pascal_s/

I believe these are called "railroad diagrams". BNF is text only as far as I know.

There are BNF to railroad diagram generators (they take a "grammar file", often BNF, and output a railroad diagram).

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