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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

Queue
A data structure that follows First-In-First-Out (FIFO) ordering, where elements are added at the rear and removed from the front.
Composition over Inheritance
A design principle favoring object composition (has-a relationships) over class inheritance (is-a relationships) for code reuse.
Hash Table
A data structure that maps keys to values using a hash function, providing average O(1) time complexity for lookups, insertions, and deletions.
Linked List
A linear data structure where elements are stored in nodes, each containing data and a pointer to the next node in the sequence.
Stack vs Heap
Two memory regions: the stack stores function call data with automatic cleanup, while the heap stores dynamically allocated objects.
Code Smell
A surface indication in code that usually corresponds to a deeper problem in the system, suggesting the need for refactoring.
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