Handy Tools for Designing Great Web APIs
summary
Argues that API design must be a repeatable method not just docs, and shows a tool chain that goes from workflow sketch to Web Sequence Diagrams (or PlantUML) to normalized vocabulary to a machine-readable profile like ALPS, then to reference docs and generated Swagger/APIary Blueprint artifacts. Demos include VS Code plugins, a command-line wsd‑gen that makes PNG/PDF diagrams, and utilities that convert diagrams into ALPS and bootstrapped Swagger. Cites surprising real-world pace: large migrations can take years (Netflix ~8 years), so early design and vocab reuse save time and breakage.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Start
- 16:10Design Thinking
- 25:27Three Elements of Design
- 26:54API Design Method
- 32:20Workflow Sketch: Weather API
- 37:32Weather Data
- 40:30Before Applying Vocabularies
- 41:20After Applying Vocabularies
- 43:03Description vt Definitions
- 50:30Design Artifacts
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