A Web API ecosystem through feature-based reuse

TL;DR

This paper proposes a feature-based reuse approach for Web APIs, introducing design principles that enable granular reuse of components to foster cross-API compatibility and improve client flexibility.

Contribution

It introduces five design principles for feature-based reuse in Web APIs, promoting modularity and ecosystem development.

Findings

Granular reuse of code, documentation, and tools is achievable.

Design principles facilitate cross-API compatibility.

Potential for more flexible Web client generation.

Abstract

The fast-growing Web API landscape brings clients more options than ever before---in theory. In practice, they cannot easily switch between different providers offering similar functionality. We discuss a vision for developing Web APIs based on reuse of interface parts called features. Through the introduction of 5 design principles, we investigate the impact of feature-based reuse on Web APIs. Applying these principles enables a granular reuse of client and server code, documentation, and tools. Together, they can foster a measurable ecosystem with cross-API compatibility, opening the door to a more flexible generation of Web clients.