foreword

For over a decade, API design has always meant REST to most developers. This reality has been constructed through regular waves of books and API-centered blogs that push RESTful design belief systems, leaving the discipline very focused and often times dogmatic. The Design of Web APIs by Arnaud Lauret is the beginning wave of the next generation of API design guidance, which will help us transcend this reality that has held us back for over a decade. His pragmatic approach to API design is still rooted in REST, but he has worked hard to bring real world API design knowledge to the table—minus the usual dogma.

Lauret takes us through the fundamentals of API design that you can easily find in other industry books, but he assembles the fundamental building blocks of this discipline in a very easy-to-access way and walks you through the vast landscape in a friendly and comfortable manner. I have known Arnaud personally for several years and consider him among a handful of top tier API talent that don’t just understand how you do APIs technically, but also understand the human-centered challenges of delivering APIs and how APIs can positively or negatively impact your API experience among developers. Arnaud focuses his knowledge on not just the act of designing an API, but also the act of providing a well-designed API for your intended audience in a thoughtful way.