Table of Contents

Theory and Justification.- The Art of Building Modern Software.- The Motivation to Create an API.- Determining What Makes a Good API.- Ever-Changing Targets.- Practical Design.- Do Not Expose More Than You Want.- Code Against Interfaces, Not Implementations.- Use Modular Architecture.- Separate APIs for Clients and Providers.- Keep Testability in Mind.- Cooperating with other APIs.- Runtime Aspects of APIs.- Declarative Programming.- Daily Life.- Extreme Advice Considered Harmful.- Paradoxes of API Design.- Evolving the API Universe.- Teamwork.- Using Games to Improve API Design Skills.- Extensible Visitor Pattern Case Study.- End-of-Life Procedures.- Epilogue.- The Future.

About the Author

Jaroslav Tulach is the founder and initial architect of NetBeans, later acquired by Sun Technologies. As creator of the technology behind NetBeans, he is still with the project to find ways to improve the design skills among all the programmers who contribute to the success of NetBeans open source project.