Chapter 2: Principles of API Design

You might be surprised that there is a chapter on API design in a book about API testing and development. Don't designers work on making things look good? An API doesn't really have much to look at, so why would I spend a whole chapter talking to you about API design?

I believe that design, testing, and documentation are just as much a part of creating a quality product as development is. Perhaps they are even more important. Good design can make the life of a developer or tester much easier. Designing something isn't so much about making it look good as it is about ensuring that it brings satisfaction. We humans enjoy things that look nice and so designs can sometimes be focused on the look and feel of something, but even in the realm of APIs where there isn't much to "see," good design can make it much more enjoyable to use and thus improve the quality.

This chapter will go over the principles of API design...