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A novel API can totally be a solution to a problem, though. Hence API design being an area that we all spend lots of time thinking and learning about.
by staticassertion 7y ago
A novel API can totally be a solution to a problem, though. Hence API design being an area that we all spend lots of time thinking and learning about.
- evgen 7y agoCould you please provide an example of an API that is a solution and not a description of how to access the solution? I am completely unconvinced by your assertion.
- Ericson2314 7y agohttp://strictlypositive.org/Idiom.pdf http://strictlypositive.org/Idiom.pdf https://hackage.haskell.org/package/base-4.12.0.0/docs/src/GHC.Base.html#Applicative https://hackage.haskell.org/package/base-4.12.0.0/docs/src/G...
- simonh 7y agoSure, but equally prospective authors spend a huge amount of work creating great plots, and a terrible plot can wreck an extremely well written story. They still can't copyright or otherwise protect them though, for good reasons. Protecting plots would have terrible negative consequences for creative arts, just as protecting APIs would have terrible consequences for the software industry. It's not 100% directly comparable, APIs are often more explicitly stated than plots, but I think the analogy is close enough to be useful.
- jariel 7y agoAn API is not a 'plot' - it's a very specific articulation of information. An API is more like a set of chapter headings and their descriptions. It doesn't matter that they are 'not a solution' to anything.