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> APIs are an increasingly important piece of how software is built. API's were always how software has been built .. Web API's, on the other hand ...

by cat199 6y ago

CharlesW 6y ago
> API's were always how software has been built .. For software designed to be used by other developers, sure. For software in general, that's not my experience. > Web API's, on the other hand ... The ellipses suggests a natural conclusion, but none come to mind. Do you mind completing the thought?
- recursive 6y ago
  > For software designed to be used by other developers, sure. For software in general, that's not my experience. The only software I can think of for users that doesn't use an API is maybe on an embedded microcontroller. Everything uses APIs. File system APIs, GUI APIs, timer APIs, network APIs. Even standard output is usually exposed via an API in most languages. > The ellipses suggests a natural conclusion, but none come to mind. Do you mind completing the thought? The conclusion is that software wasn't always built with web APIs, in contrast from APIs in general.
  - cle 6y ago
    According to the article's description of APIs, microcontrollers have their own APIs as well, in the form of machine code. Of course in a different sense there's a technical distinction between APIs and ABIs, but in this sense they're the same thing.
  - jiggawatts 6y ago
    Furthermore, networked APIs were commonplace way before REST and JSON were a thing. Even in the HTTP API era we're at the 'second generation', with the first one being SOAP or XML-RPC. Before that there was a long history of CORBA, DCOM+, DCE/RPC, etc, etc...
  - CharlesW 6y ago
    > The only software I can think of for users that doesn't use an API is maybe on an embedded microcontroller. Everything uses APIs. I understand that all software uses APIs, but TFA is about API-first software, meaning an API (designed for other software) as the primary interface to a product. > The conclusion is that software wasn't always built with web APIs, in contrast from APIs in general. Everything on the web has an API (or user agents wouldn't work), which is why I'm asking. APIs are how the web works.

> APIs are an increasingly important piece of how software is built. API's were always how software has been built .. Web API's, on the other hand ...

by cat199 6y ago

> APIs are an increasingly important piece of how software is built. API's were always how software has been built .. Web API's, on the other hand ...

CharlesW 6y ago

> API's were always how software has been built .. For software designed to be used by other developers, sure. For software in general, that's not my experience. > Web API's, on the other hand ... The ellipses suggests a natural conclusion, but none come to mind. Do you mind completing the thought?

recursive 6y ago
> For software designed to be used by other developers, sure. For software in general, that's not my experience. The only software I can think of for users that doesn't use an API is maybe on an embedded microcontroller. Everything uses APIs. File system APIs, GUI APIs, timer APIs, network APIs. Even standard output is usually exposed via an API in most languages. > The ellipses suggests a natural conclusion, but none come to mind. Do you mind completing the thought? The conclusion is that software wasn't always built with web APIs, in contrast from APIs in general.
- cle 6y ago
  According to the article's description of APIs, microcontrollers have their own APIs as well, in the form of machine code. Of course in a different sense there's a technical distinction between APIs and ABIs, but in this sense they're the same thing.
- jiggawatts 6y ago
  Furthermore, networked APIs were commonplace way before REST and JSON were a thing. Even in the HTTP API era we're at the 'second generation', with the first one being SOAP or XML-RPC. Before that there was a long history of CORBA, DCOM+, DCE/RPC, etc, etc...
- CharlesW 6y ago
  > The only software I can think of for users that doesn't use an API is maybe on an embedded microcontroller. Everything uses APIs. I understand that all software uses APIs, but TFA is about API-first software, meaning an API (designed for other software) as the primary interface to a product. > The conclusion is that software wasn't always built with web APIs, in contrast from APIs in general. Everything on the web has an API (or user agents wouldn't work), which is why I'm asking. APIs are how the web works.