Intent-driven API gels with a talk from Netflix that came out just a few days ago: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/API-Revolution http://www.infoq.com/presen

Intent-driven API gels with a talk from Netflix that came out just a few days ago: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/API-Revolution http://www.infoq.com/presentations/API-Revolution His argument is that we're in the middle of a switch from RESTful resource-oriented APIs to what he calls "Experience-Driven APIs". He explains how Netflix has made this shift with its PS3 app. They effectively introduced a new facade layer inside the server and that's what the PS3 talks to. The main thing about this talk is that this whole question constantly repeats itself with the pendulum swinging back and forth. There's really no right answer and it depends a lot on the reason for providing the API in the first place. And that gets back to another reason we are probably seeing the trend, which is that companies like Twitter are becoming more protective of their APIs. While the OP is mostly arguing this from the perspective of technical efficiency, this commercial argument could sway companies even further towards intent-driven APIs. I imagine we will end up in a dichotomy, where companies who provide their own UI and services will typically support intent-style APIs, while companies who specifically have a business model of charging for their API will continue to offer the more precise resource-style API.