Azure API Management Resources
Although I know my HTTP and Web API pretty well, becoming an API Evangelist on the Azure API Management team means also needing to know the nitty gritty of the Azure API Management product too. In my learning process I have discovered a wealth of useful information, but it is scattered around a little. Some is on the Azure documentation site, some on Channel 9, some on YouTube and some awesome content from our Microsoft MVPs. This post is my attempt to gather it together to make it a bit easier to find.
API description languages are a dead end
In my last post I discussed what I perceive to be a misuse of the term self-description. I made the claim that one of the negative side-effects of this misuse is the development of more API metadata description languages. I believe this is a path we have travelled before and it is a dead end.
A Fresh Coat Of REST Paint On A SOAP Stack
In my experience, once a SOAP API gets into production and is working, nobody wants to touch it. They can be very finicky beasts. Sometimes the most innocuous update can stop a client application in its tracks. Exposing a SOAP API to external customers just raises the risk level. One approach I frequently see is putting an HTTP or REST API in front of the SOAP stack. This adds a layer of indirection that allows some wiggle room into the exposed API. This blog posts talks about some of the issues to consider when trying to build a resource oriented HTTP API as a façade to a SOAP API.