Useful APIs are the ones you can track

To make effective use of APIs, you're going to need a program that extends beyond their creation so that you can track and manage them. Useful APIs are, after all, how a business connects to its suppliers and customers. Business transactions won't be efficient if an organization does not make use of what's often called the API economy. The usefulness of integrated APIs for conducting business and linking constituencies both internal and external is no small thing. It's fundamental.

As cloud guru Chris Moyer points out in this handbook, the most useful APIs are ones that developers from various teams can contribute to and improve upon. But that strength is also a weakness. Problems, Moyer says, will surely result if no one pays attention to the quality and stability of those APIs. Developers need to track and secure them. Doing so requires meticulous documentation, effective authentication practices and monitoring strategies that let IT teams know when and why an API fails.

Without good management habits, your useful APIs will become headaches and possibly even impediments to success. This handbook offers guidance on how to develop those best practices.

By

• Phil Sweeney, Executive Editor