Eclipse Community Forums: ORMF » The importance of the API

Help

Home

Home » Archived » ORMF » The importance of the API

Show: Today's Messages :: Show Polls :: Message Navigator

The importance of the API [message #4405]

Mon, 10 March 2008 09:41

Joel Rosi-Schwartz
Messages: 624
Registered: July 2009
Location: London. England

Senior Member

[Mik Kersten said]
It would help to have a short but concrete overview of what it would be
like to use the plug-in, i.e. some kind of user centric overview.

[Harm Sluiman said]
I think it will be key to make API of the artifacts you flow on the
wire between the client and server. Plus if you can keep that protocol
truly restful you will be building something for the future. The
reference model will also be critical since to get adoption you need to
be able to reference out to anything, but also be easily referenced.
Persistent references are never as easy as they sound, as you probably
know ;-)
<...>
So my net is that you need to publish API in the artifact space even
more than for plugins, and declaring API is serious stuff so don't do
it fast, but do it well. (easy for me to say ;-)) It would be good if
your proposal highlighted some of your intentions in this space.

--
Joel Rosi-Schwartz
Etish Limited [http://www.etish.org]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^...^
/ o,o \ The proud parents of Useme
|) ::: (| The Open Requirements Management Tool
====w=w==== [https://useme.dev.java.net]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Report message to a moderator

Re: The importance of the API [message #4478 is a reply to message #4405]

Mon, 10 March 2008 09:44

Joel Rosi-Schwartz
Messages: 624
Registered: July 2009
Location: London. England

Senior Member

On 2008-03-10 13:41:36 +0000, Joel Rosi-Schwartz
<Joel.Rosi-Schwartz@Etish.org> said:

> [Mik Kersten said]
> It would help to have a short but concrete overview of what it would be
> like to use the plug-in, i.e. some kind of user centric overview.

Mik's quote here should have been:
Similarly, it would be helpful to have a short overview of what APIs
will be produced for people to extend the tool.

>
>
> [Harm Sluiman said]
> I think it will be key to make API of the artifacts you flow on the
> wire between the client and server. Plus if you can keep that protocol
> truly restful you will be building something for the future. The
> reference model will also be critical since to get adoption you need to
> be able to reference out to anything, but also be easily referenced.
> Persistent references are never as easy as they sound, as you probably
> know ;-)
> <...>
> So my net is that you need to publish API in the artifact space even
> more than for plugins, and declaring API is serious stuff so don't do
> it fast, but do it well. (easy for me to say ;-)) It would be good if
> your proposal highlighted some of your intentions in this space.

--
Joel Rosi-Schwartz
Etish Limited [http://www.etish.org]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^...^
/ o,o \ The proud parents of Useme
|) ::: (| The Open Requirements Management Tool
====w=w==== [https://useme.dev.java.net]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Report message to a moderator

Re: The importance of the API [message #4547 is a reply to message #4478]

Mon, 10 March 2008 10:53

Joel Rosi-Schwartz
Messages: 624
Registered: July 2009
Location: London. England

Senior Member

On 2008-03-10 13:44:27 +0000, Joel Rosi-Schwartz
<Joel.Rosi-Schwartz@Etish.org> said:

> On 2008-03-10 13:41:36 +0000, Joel Rosi-Schwartz
> <Joel.Rosi-Schwartz@Etish.org> said:
>
>> [Mik Kersten said]
>> It would help to have a short but concrete overview of what it would be
>> like to use the plug-in, i.e. some kind of user centric overview.
>
> Mik's quote here should have been:
> Similarly, it would be helpful to have a short overview of what APIs
> will be produced for people to extend the tool.
>
>>
>>
>> [Harm Sluiman said]
>> I think it will be key to make API of the artifacts you flow on the
>> wire between the client and server. Plus if you can keep that protocol
>> truly restful you will be building something for the future. The
>> reference model will also be critical since to get adoption you need to
>> be able to reference out to anything, but also be easily referenced.
>> Persistent references are never as easy as they sound, as you probably
>> know ;-)
>> <...>
>> So my net is that you need to publish API in the artifact space even
>> more than for plugins, and declaring API is serious stuff so don't do
>> it fast, but do it well. (easy for me to say ;-)) It would be good if
>> your proposal highlighted some of your intentions in this space.

Good advice. Obviously, for framework to be useful and successful it is
essential for ORMF to have a carefully thought through set of API. We
will add a section to the proposal that makes this intention clear.

Harm, I would like to make certain that I understand correctly what you
mean by "API in the artifact space". Currently we rely on XML schema to
define the content and structure of the artefacts. Do you mean more
than this?

B. and Joel
--
Joel Rosi-Schwartz
Etish Limited [http://www.etish.org]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^...^
/ o,o \ The proud parents of Useme
|) ::: (| The Open Requirements Management Tool
====w=w==== [https://useme.dev.java.net]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Report message to a moderator

Re: The importance of the API [message #5235 is a reply to message #4547]

Mon, 10 March 2008 17:44

Harm Sluiman
Messages: 20
Registered: July 2009

Junior Member

"Joel Rosi-Schwartz" <Joel.Rosi-Schwartz@Etish.org> wrote in message
news:fr3i1v$i3l$1@build.eclipse.org...
> On 2008-03-10 13:44:27 +0000, Joel Rosi-Schwartz
> <Joel.Rosi-Schwartz@Etish.org> said:
>
>> On 2008-03-10 13:41:36 +0000, Joel Rosi-Schwartz
>> <Joel.Rosi-Schwartz@Etish.org> said:
>>
....
>>>
>>> [Harm Sluiman said]
>>> I think it will be key to make API of the artifacts you flow on the wire
>>> between the client and server. Plus if you can keep that protocol truly
>>> restful you will be building something for the future. The reference
>>> model will also be critical since to get adoption you need to be able to
>>> reference out to anything, but also be easily referenced. Persistent
>>> references are never as easy as they sound, as you probably know ;-)
....
>
> Harm, I would like to make certain that I understand correctly what you
> mean by "API in the artifact space". Currently we rely on XML schema to
> define the content and structure of the artefacts. Do you mean more than
> this?
>
> B. and Joel
> --

Yes, a schema for the artifacts exchanged is a great place to begin. Plus
the verbs/protocol you expect these artifacts to be exchanged over. I would
strongly suggest trying to stay to basic CRUD (create, read, update, delete)
verbs as used in HTTP today PUT/GET... wihtout embedding additional
semantics with "commands" in the header or XML body.
These two things embody the behavour contract imo, and make for a solid api.

Report message to a moderator