From APIs to Affordances

From APIs to Affordances

A New Paradigm for Services on the Web

The ecosystem of services on the Web continues to grow and evolve while, at the same time, the number and diversity of connected devices increases; challenges lie ahead for both providers and consumers of Web services. This paper is presented as a ‘what-if’ proposal; an alternate paradigm for dealing with an increasingly heterogeneous network.

Drawing from diverse sources including physical architecture, industrial design, the psychology of perception, and cross-cultural mono-myth, a new implementation paradigm is proposed to help software architects and developers meet these challenges; one that invites participants to shift their mental model from that of programming network devices to programming the network to which those devices are connected.

To accomplish this goal an "affordance-rich message" is proposed; one that is based on shared understanding through network-oriented affordances instead of device-oriented APIs. A working model based on this approach is offered, examples given, and areas of related work identified.

An internationally known author and lecturer, Mike Amundsen travels throughout the world consulting and speaking on a wide range of topics including distributed network architecture, Web application development, and other subjects.

In his role of Director of Architecture for the API Academy, Amundsen heads up the API Architecture and Design Practice in North America. He is responsible for working with companies to provide insight on how best to capitalize on the myriad opportunities APIs present to both consumers and the enterprise.

Amundsen has authored numerous books and papers on programming over the last 15 years. His most recent book is a collaboration with Leonard Richardson titled "RESTful Web APIs" published in 2013. His 2011 book, “Building Hypermedia APIs with HTML5 and Node”, is an oft-cited reference on building adaptable Web applications.

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