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Hypermedia Driven Reuse
- 1. Hypermedia Driven Reuse Solve API Problems Fast Darrel Miller
- 2. SOFTWARE’S HOLY GRAIL Achieving reuse on the web is different…
- 3. API Reuse versus Web Reuse
- 7. BEWARE MEDIA TYPE EXPLOSION
- 8. SUPPORT MULTIPLE MEDIA TYPES
- 9. Learn from others application/hal+json application/ld+json application/vnd.mason+json application/vnd.siren+json application/vnd.amundsen-uber+json application/vnd.api+json application/vnd.github.v3+json application/vnd.heroku+json application/atom+xml application/voicexml+xml application/vnd.collection+json application/activity+json application/http-problem application/json-home Generic Hypermedia API Specific Task Specific JSON Schema ALPS Link Relations
- 10. Litmus Test Actionable Semantics Useful in other APIs
Editor's Notes
- Dev Advocate Prior 20 years – LOB distributed systems in manufacturing sector 2007 – Hypermedia Driven Desktop apps Role of hypermedia in enabling reuse of both design and code
- Holy Grail of the software industry Path to higher productivity The web has been successful because of code re-use API world is struggling to achieve significant levels of re-use Partly because applying local system code reuse techniques Code based systems use inheritance, interfaces and libraries with shared types But API consumers and providers have different platforms, languages and type systems. Still searching for solutions Many Efforts to produce description languages, search engines and even patents Few examples of people re-using APIs in the wild. Metablog APIs are not an effective unit of reuse on the web
- Describe what we are comparing Describe API reuse. All or nothing? What about partial? What about a readonly? Client integration. Composition can be tricky due to overlapping URI spaces, inconsistent conventions. On the web… describe Reuse is finer grained Integrations can be presented to client by the server Server boundaries are transparent Media Types and link relations are the unit of re-use on the web Media Types : vCard, iCalendar, svg, atom, RSS Relations like : Search, stylesheet, next, previous, item, collection To maximize reuse we must try and minimize the knowledge contained in a message. Client is on a need to know basis. Can you interact with something without knowing the “meaning” of the content? Let me give an example
- Example from electronics industry. LittleBits The sensors don't care what is producing the light or heat, or why. only care if the measurement exceeds a threshold, at which point a switch is flipped. Bad habit of expose everything because we don't know what a client wants. This severely inhibits reuse. Achieving reuse is about focusing on the things that matter and avoiding things that don’t.
- Another analogy useful for understanding the role of media types is cooking equipment Can you cook with only one type of pan? Different pots and pans have different uses But not limited to a single food. Boil potatoes and heat soup in a pot, Fry an egg, or cook bacon in a pan Each address a class of problem. Optimized for simplicity and reusibility Many Media types are designed to solve specific problems - Error details, discovery, lists of things, resource status, variant lists, OPTIONS responses. Trying to build one for everything is a little bit like trying to …
- Star-Trek Food Replicator One device that can produce any kind of food. Generic media types become complex And that’s before we’ve even started to address application semantics For that we need profiles, schemas and namespaces Until we get there, let’s not forget we can use simple pots and pans to get the job done.
- Obviously you can take this too far. Too much spec writing Be wary of overly specific media types. Sometimes it does make sense, making a waffle without a waffle maker is hard. They make re-use hard.
- Consequence is clients must support diff media types Each individual media type is simpler. Single m/t is more complex Support for media type should be independent of resource Content type tells you the m/t m/t is the thing, link relation gives you context Angry dog. Composition of link relation/m/t gives reusability is the same way adjectives and nouns do in language Media types used can change over time / Over time move to new format Helps with backward compatibility Can be used to manipulate workflow…. Question example
- Generic hypermedia types have taught us a lot Good base to build task specific m/t on. If we stick to generic, we need to apply the knowledge limiting principles to app semantic mechanism API specific allow building reusable client libs to handle conventions Task specific enable the most reuse
- Leave you with litmus test Should message exist as a standalone m/t