Earth is steadily moving toward a connected world faster than ever. That’s because the world of technology is constantly growing. For instance, according to new research from the Bureau of Labor of Statistics, by the end of decade, IT jobs will grow 22%.
It’s not surprising that developers are required to start working at a higher level. That means that in addition to apps, they have to design APIs, which allow their colleagues to use their software without writing a single line of code.
Today we have few tips for all of you young developer that will allow you to create a killer API from scratch and ensure that they have a huge user base….
Three Conventions for a Successful API
- You Need to Have Long Term Goals
For starter, we need to talk about the goals you have in mind for your API. In most cases, when it comes to creating APIs, there a two mindsets: develop it for present or develop it for the future. The first one is far more common, because developers usually want to deploy their APIs as soon as possible.
However, this is a huge mistake, because developers who focus on short term goals only work on certain feature sets. Of course, by doing this, they tend to ignore other aspects of their API, for instance, they pay little attention to creating comprehendible documentation.
Documentation should be at the top of the list of your priorities, because it helps other developers use your API properly. That’s why so many developers use an API documentation app that allows them to have complete control of the documentation process right from the get go.
For that reason, you need to set long term goals, and ask yourself: “What will we really need in the future?”
- You Shouldn’t Use too Many Interfaces
Our brain is the best tool we have – that’s a fact. However, our brains still have certain limitations. For instance, our brain can only remember around 10 pieces of new information. That means, you shouldn’t overflow the brains of your users with too much information.
Basically, you should keep your API with a limited number of interfaces. While there isn’t a strict rule concerning the number of interfaces, we recommend you should keep the number around ten. As we mentioned above, that’s the limit of the human brain.
If your developers go beyond this number, it will definitely become difficult for your users to remember them all. And if they are forced to use them all at the same time, they will only be confused. Also, it will make your API look overly complicated for the average developer.
- Logical Naming Conventions Work the Best
The naming scheme for your API shouldn’t be too complex. Keep in mind – your API is meant for human use, which means you should try to keep things as simple as possible. Using cryptic names – or even letters – for your API will leave the user puzzled.
The developers shouldn’t spend a few minutes wondering what all of those symbols mean. By careful about the naming conventions and following our recommendations, you’ll be able to avoid all of this, thus, increasing your user base – which should be your ultimate goal.
You should start your naming convention form the general and only then work toward the specific.
The Bottom Line: Make Sure to Follow these Conventions
When you’re developing an API, you need to set a specific set of rules, and then follow them. This will ensure that you meet all of your goals and even exceed the industry standards. Here are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself before you start developing an API:
- How your ideal user looks like?
- What are the products or services they will be working with?
- What technologies will they use along with your API?
- What services you want your API to interact with?
By asking these questions, you’ll be able to set your goals and create the killer API you always wanted.
With that, we’re done. As always, if you have any additional question or you feel like we missed something, feel free to leave a comment below.
