Archive for: February 2006
§ ¶TrollTech on API Design
I came across this piece on how to design an API that’s essentially written from a user-centered perspective. It discusses how TrollTech (who make the Qt cross-platform framework) have evolved their API interface to improve comprehension and reliability for their users: other developers.
The ideas and examples here aren’t just applicable to commercial API designers. Every codebase is essentially an API that someone is going to have to learn (or, if you’re returning to your own code, relearn). The ideas strike me as being a level above quibbling about things like the merits of Hungarian Notation, and more in the pragmatic programming realm.