Everything I know about good system design
I see a lot of bad system design advice. One classic is the LinkedIn-optimized “bet you never heard of queues” style of post, presumably aimed at peop...
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Software Engineering Guide
Summary
This article outlines practical principles for designing effective APIs, emphasizing simplicity, familiarity, and long-term stability. It stresses the importance of avoiding breaking changes, using versioning as a last resort, and recognizing that product value often outweighs design elegance.
Highlights
- Good APIs should be boring and familiar, allowing developers to use them intuitively without extensive documentation
- The principle of 'do not break userspace' is critical; avoid removing or changing existing fields to maintain user trust
- Additive changes like new response fields are generally safe, but breaking changes require careful versioning strategies
- Versioning should be a last resort due to the maintenance complexity of supporting multiple API versions simultaneously
- API success depends more on the underlying product value than on elegant design; users will tolerate poor design if the service is valuable enough
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Context
Audience
Software Engineers, Backend Developers, API Designers
DomainAPI Design
Formatlong-form article
Accessfree online
Topics
Related
REST APIGraphQLAPI VersioningBackend DevelopmentTwilio API
