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Programming Concepts Intermediate

What is API Design?

The practice of designing application programming interfaces that are consistent, intuitive, and maintainable for developers to consume.

Good API design follows principles like consistency (uniform naming conventions, error formats), discoverability (logical resource naming, HATEOAS links), versioning (URL path, header, or query parameter strategies), proper HTTP method usage (GET for reads, POST for creates, PUT for updates, DELETE for removes), meaningful status codes, pagination for collections, filtering and sorting parameters, and comprehensive documentation. RESTful conventions, OpenAPI/Swagger specifications, and developer experience (DX) are central concerns. Well-designed APIs reduce integration time, minimize support burden, and enable ecosystem growth.

Related Terms

Clean Code
Code that is easy to read, understand, and maintain — following consistent conventions, meaningful naming, and single-responsibility functions.
Queue
A data structure that follows First-In-First-Out (FIFO) ordering, where elements are added at the rear and removed from the front.
Thread
The smallest unit of execution within a process, allowing concurrent operations to run within a single program.
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
A programming paradigm that organizes software design around objects containing data and behavior.
Design Pattern
A reusable solution template for commonly occurring problems in software design.
SOLID Principles
Five design principles for writing maintainable, flexible object-oriented code: Single Responsibility, Open-Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface Segregation, and Dependency Inversion.
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