Skip to Main Content
Designing Evolvable Web APIs with ASP.NET
book

Designing Evolvable Web APIs with ASP.NET

by Glenn Block, Pablo Cibraro, Pedro Felix, Howard Dierking, Darrel Miller
March 2014
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
538 pages
13h 19m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Designing Evolvable Web APIs with ASP.NET

Chapter 5. The Application

Evolve or die.

Up to this point we have discussed the tools that you can use to build Web APIs. We have discussed the fundamentals of the HTTP protocol, the basics of using ASP.NET Web API, and how the architectural pieces fit together. This is essential knowledge, but not the only objective of this book. This book is also about how to build evolvable Web APIs. This chapter is where we begin to talk about how to create a Web API that can evolve over a period of years—a long enough span of time that business concerns and technology will change.

Rather than discuss the issues in abstract scenarios, we will walk the walk and build an API that demonstrates the concepts we wish to convey. This API will concern a domain that should be familiar to every developer and is sufficiently realistic that it could be adopted in real-world scenarios.

Before delving into the details of the domain, we must ensure that evolvability is something we are truly prepared to pay for. It does not come for free. In order to achieve evolvability, where appropriate, we will apply the constraints of the REST architectural style. It is critical to recognize that we are not attempting to create a “RESTful API.” REST is not the objective, but rather a means to an end. It is quite possible that we will choose to violate some of the REST constraints in certain scenarios. Once you understand the value and costs of an architectural constraint, you can make an informed decision about whether ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Mastering ASP.NET Web API

Mastering ASP.NET Web API

Mithun Pattankar, Malendra Hurbuns
Enterprise Application Development with C# 9 and .NET 5

Enterprise Application Development with C# 9 and .NET 5

Ravindra Akella, Rishabh Verma, Arun Kumar Tamirisa, Suneel Kumar Kunani, Bhupesh Guptha Muthiyalu

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781449337919Errata Page