API Development
These days, building APIs isn’t just writing code - it’s like assembling a puzzle with pieces that keep changing shape. In this guide, I’ll explain why API development has gotten so complex, from managing diverse ecosystems to ensuring robust security and reliable performance. But more importantly, I’ll introduce you to tools like Blackbird that simplify the chaos. Whether you’re trying to debug faster, streamline workflows, or avoid the dreaded “works on my machine” syndrome, you’ll find actionable insights to help you deliver quality APIs without losing your sanity.
The Growing Complexity of Modern API Development
Building APIs today is trickier than ever because you must integrate with diverse technologies, ensure robust security to protect sensitive data, and optimize for speed to meet user expectations for fast application performance.
December 19, 2024 | 9 min read
API Development
AI has taken the software world by storm, but it's not just about automating mundane tasks anymore. It's about revolutionizing the entire development process from the ground up.
Imagine turning vague project ideas into fully fleshed-out, actionable specifications in minutes instead of days. Imagine no longer spending hours in back-and-forth discussions only to end up with misaligned requirements.
AI isn’t just helping—it’s becoming your copilot (pun intended), pushing your productivity into overdrive, and slashing the time it takes to go from concept to code. Whether you're a seasoned developer or new to the world of APIs, AI tools are here to supercharge your efficiency, reduce your headaches, and elevate the quality of your software.
December 11, 2024 | 15 min read
API Development
Discover Why Blackbird Offers the Best of Both Worlds for Dummy APIs and Mocking
Imagine you're building a shopping app. It needs to display a list of products, but the backend team hasn’t finished the API for fetching product data yet. Without the API, your app can’t show anything, and your work is stuck.
Here’s where a dummy API for testing comes in. A dummy API returns a fixed list of products, no matter what you request—shoes, books, or anything else.
December 10, 2024 | 15 min read
API Development
APIs provide communication and data exchange "interface" between various software systems. Due to their extensive usage in both public and internal applications, even minor modifications to an API can have a significant effect. Without versioning, modifications to the structure, behavior, or format of the API may unintentionally cause unexpected behaviors for users who depend on earlier versions or break client applications. Any program depending on the original format, would probably malfunction or generate errors.
What is API versioning?
API versioning is a method for managing changes to an API over time. As APIs grow to meet new business demands, embrace new technologies, or address bug fixes, they must be carefully updated to ensure that existing clients can continue to work while new features and improvements are enabled.
December 6, 2024 | 21 min read
API Development
Let’s start with two facts. First, APIs are a central — and increasingly important — part of business infrastructure across industries in terms of both managing costs and maximizing profits. Second, developing production-ready APIs is complicated and stressful, especially when increasing financial expectations and security considerations are thrown into the mix.
The results are predictable: stressed-out developers, security vulnerabilities, and budget overruns. Teams that find a better way to build APIs could reap major rewards. So what does that take?
One step that could transform your API development process is likely simpler than you think. It all starts with better API mocking.
December 4, 2024 | 13 min read
API Development
Modern applications are complex. Complex frontends must interact with complex backends. These interactions are handled through APIs that the backends expose. One of the most common forms of these APIs are restful APIs that leverage common HTTP verbs sent to meaningful URIs.
There are multiple moving parts here and it's not uncommon to have multiple teams working on these parts. There might be one team building the frontend that consumes these APIs and another that builds the APIs. Or it could be one team with multiple people working on the frontend and backend in parallel. In either case, you have multiple people involved in the development of the overall application.
How do you keep them aligned through the development? One of the best ways is by exercising strong design first principles with the creation of specifications that define the contract of the APIs that are going to be consumed. OpenAPI provides a well adopted language for doing so. It standardizes how you represent APIs.
December 3, 2024 | 6 min read
