REST

Using Azure Data Factory with the Application Insights REST API

28 October 2019

Persisting aggregates of AppInsights data in a warehouse can be a useful means of distributing summary information or retaining monitoring data over the long term. You can automate the harvesting of these aggregates using Azure Data Factory.

What makes a REST API mobile-friendly?

25 April 2018

REST API design is dependent on the clients that will be consuming the resources - APIs that are designed for server-based integrations tend to look quite different from those that are designed to support mobile applications.

GraphQL will not solve your API design problems

20 March 2018

If you find REST APIs difficult to design, develop and scale, then your experience with GraphQL is not going to be any easier.

Are OpenAPI and Swagger trying to turn REST into SOAP?

14 August 2017

Open API and Swagger enable the same kind of automated discovery and integration that WSDL and SOAP were invented to support. In doing so they undermine the design of REST APIs and don’t even provide adequate documentation.

Can consumer-driven contracts manage breaking change in microservice integrations?

4 June 2017

One of the more enduring problems with service integration is managing change in service interfaces. Consumer-driven contracts can help to detect breaking changes, but this visibility comes at a price.

Pragmatic REST: APIs without hypermedia and HATEOAS

12 December 2015

If you’re not using HATEAOS then you’re not using REST. That’s true enough, but in many cases adopting HATEOAS doesn’t deliver much value beyond architectural purity.

REST APIs don’t need a versioning strategy - they need a change strategy

27 September 2015

Change in an API is inevitable. Attempting to manage this change through version numbering usually creates more problems than it solves.

Microservices, REST and the distributed big ball of mud

20 April 2015

The “big ball of mud” describes a system architecture that is sprawling, sloppy and haphazard. That’s precisely how you’d describe some emerging microservice architectures.

Why REST is not a silver bullet for service integration

4 January 2015

REST is sometimes described as the next evolutionary step in service integration. The problem is that REST provides too much of a dumb pipe to support genuinely decoupled, fault-tolerant service integration.

The REST flame wars – common disagreements over REST API design

22 November 2014

Debates on the finer points of REST can bring out the worst in people as they seek to define what is and is not “RESTful”. In most cases the debate is unlikely to make the difference between success and failure for an API.

Messaging shouldn’t be used for queries

21 August 2014

When developers first start using messaging they can be tempted to use it as a brand new hammer for every nail. Messaging brings a lot to the party, but it isn’t necessarily a suitable transport for fast, synchronous query processing.

Using a tolerant reader for web service integrations in .Net

22 July 2014

Using version tolerant readers can help you to cope with changes to service contracts though this does come at the expense of a weaker contract. The approach is more appropriate for fluid services that are prone to frequent change.

Hackable URIs may look nice, but they don’t have much to do with REST and HATEOAS

21 April 2014

Structured and Hackable URIs are a staple part of SEO-friendly websites. Although developers generically expect to see them in HTTP-based APIs, they should be irrelevant to consumers of a fully RESTful API that leverages HATEOAS.

Can APX help in developing usable and accessible APIs?

19 October 2013

Given how important APIs have become in driving the reach of applications and services, it’s surprising how little investment is made in the usability of APIs as opposed to UIs. Perhaps the principals and techniques used by UX should be applied to developing more effective APIs…

Netflix has abandoned OData – does the standard have a future without an ecosystem?

17 June 2013

Netflix have closed their OData catalogue and EBay seem to have quietly put their implementation out to grass. With a shrinking ecosystem and no marquee services, does Microsoft’s data standard have a future?