API Half-lives
gabrielweinberg.com
API Half-lives
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Re: API Half-lives
#2It's ancillary to the argument, but I do think that the development world needs more chaos monkeys (http://techblog.netflix.com/search/label/chaos%20monkey).
Not just because it's a clever name, but the implementation really drives availability and disaster preparation.
Re: API Half-lives
#3It is indeed vitally important to remember that external APIs are unreliable and temporary. The question to ask in any given situation, though, is: How much more reliable and permanent is the code you own and manage yourself? And at what cost?
However high the odds are that the founders of a given startup will leave their company within five years, the odds that the people who built your in-house widget will leave your company within five years may well be higher. However high the odds that a given API will evolve away from your use case in five years, the odds that your use case will be obsolete in even less time may well be higher.
The underlying truth is that all APIs everywhere, in-house and out, have bugs and missing features and finite half-lives, unless you control them and continuously expend resources maintaining them. As your project grows older and more stable you may eventually discover that its expected half-life is longer than that of your provider APIs, and that's when it's time to start moving stuff in-house. This is when you realize, if you haven't already, that open-source software is your friend.
Re: API Half-lives
#4Just on a side note for the non-native speakers: shouldn't it be "API half-lifes" (as 'half-life' in terms of radioactive decay) instead of "half-live" or am I missing out the idea of the headline?
Re: API Half-lives
#5Just on a side note for the non-native speakers: shouldn't it be "API half-lifes" (as 'half-life' in terms of radioactive decay) instead of "half-live" or am I missing out the idea of the headline?
For the benefit of non-native speakers: the plural of "life" is "lives".
Re: API Half-lives
#6Just on a side note for the non-native speakers: shouldn't it be "API half-lifes" (as 'half-life' in terms of radioactive decay) instead of "half-live" or am I missing out the idea of the headline?
The correct plural of "life" is "lives." "Lives," the plural of the noun "life" is pronounced differently that "lives," the verb. Go figure.
Re: API Half-lives
#7I think, the fact that people that advertise their "API" and "platforms" and provide a glorified REST frontend to their website are actually diminishing the value of true platforms and API, where actual thought was put in making a business case, architecting them, making sure they'll be there long-term and changes planned with regards of backwards-compatibility. You can actually see one of the comments here on NH that claims that it is "vitally important to remember that external APIs are unreliable and temporary". No, they are not, if we are talking about platforms. While this is true that new API subsets are being added with every new release (more: "Fire and Motion" by Spolsky), with platforms you can expect that existing API are still there for some time, and not until the end of next month, because "platform" vendor "pivots" while burning through VCs money.
Re: API Half-lives
#8>> With so many startups, there are often several choices in any given category.
And having several choices is a great thing.
When I integrate with an external API, I look at 2-3 other APIs as well. I then write an interface based on the common features / constructs available across similar APIs. Then I write program to that interface.
If the external provider dies, at least I have an easy path to switch to another provider.
Re: API Half-lives
#9Just on a side note for the non-native speakers: shouldn't it be "API half-lifes" (as 'half-life' in terms of radioactive decay) instead of "half-live" or am I missing out the idea of the headline?
The correct plural of "life" is "lives." "Lives," the plural of the noun "life" is pronounced differently that "lives," the verb. Go figure.
Makes sense, thanks. This is like first class English and thus a bit embarrassing, but somehow it looked odd to me.
Re: API Half-lives
#10I think, the fact that people that advertise their "API" and "platforms" and provide a glorified REST frontend to their website are actually diminishing the value of true platforms and API, where actual thought was put in making a business case, architecting them, making sure they'll be there long-term and changes planned with regards of backwards-compatibility. You can actually see one of the comments here on NH tha…
Well, given the choice between a world where the only APIs in existence are "true platforms", backed by enormous corporations with tons of resources who pledge to make them absolutely backwards-compatible for ten years... and a world where, in addition to the true platforms, every half-assed hack also has some sort of API so that other people can build upon it with half-assed hacks of their own, my first instinct is still to prefer the second world.
Yes, this means that the word API no longer connotes "true platformness". That's a branding problem for the "true platforms", but I'm sure Microsoft and Oracle can handle it. They have resources.