API first development design

http://blog.pop.co/post/67465239611/why-we-chose-api-first-development

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6762534

Simple enough. Another project derivative idea based upon Junco code. No HTML Template usage. The server code only receives and returns JSON via REST API calls. The client code can do the formatting in any manner that it wants. Maybe it's another server app that is acting like a client, such as a cron script. The server code can be created in different programming languages if necessary, and all of their communication is through JSON-REST API calls.

A lot of "firsts" for design and development:

1. API first
2. testing first
3. mobile first

If doing API first development, then the mobile first thought is relegated to another app or service. Separation.

Hacker News top comment:

In the past 6 months, at the urging of my friend Dave (sup!), who suggested this style of development, it's all I've done, even for small personal projects. I sort of take it further, eschewing frameworks somewhat, relying on libraries around actual "Business Logic" to deliver stuff as needed to outside clients.

It's been an eye opener. Sometimes it requires a little more upfront thought, but I end up with a much more maintainable project at the end of it. TDD is your new best friend if you go down this road, and the best part is: it's easier to do test driven development when things are nicely separated like this!

It's basically SRP writ large, and something tells me it's another one of those "ideas" that the grey-beards learned a long time ago that we are only re-learning now. Although REST does kick the crap out of SOAP...

#programming - #design - #javascript - #json - #rest - #api