Definitely read what Joshua Bloch has to say about API design. I'd highly recommend this talk he gave: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/effective-api-design

Definitely read what Joshua Bloch has to say about API design. I'd highly recommend this talk he gave: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/effective-api-design http://www.infoq.com/presentations/effective-api-design Typically he talks about APIs more in the sense of library design than web service design, but he's very relevant nontheless.