Core principles of API-first development
The core principles of API-first development With so many developers using the term API-first incorrectly (or perhaps partially correctly), it can be difficult to know which products are genuinely API-first and which ones aren’t. It’s because of this murky definition that we’ve collected five core principles of an API-first development approach. 1. Your API is a product Publishing an API is easy. What’s difficult is preparing it for public consumption. That’s the difference between merely creating APIs and treating them as products. An API-first approach requires you to think about how developers will interact with your API, how you’ll educate them on its functionality, how you’ll maintain it over time, which tools to use to build the API, and how you’ll adhere to standards of compatibility, security, and simplicity. When a company builds a product, it must meet industry standards. For APIs, this means practicing foundational software design and development cycles that deliver a q...