Randy Presuhn wrote:
Hi -
From: Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: May 26, 2014 7:18 PM
To: ietf@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: inquiry re. the state of protocol R&D
I have to vehemently disagree. To me, APIs are a step in the wrong
direction.
Protocol specs - framed as PDU formats and state machine models -
present a basis for interoperability and distributed operation. APIs are
language-specific, and all too often are tied to a
centralized/client-server model of the world. A big step backwards.
It depends on what folks mean by "APIs". My experience in the IETF
is that when the term is used here it frequently does *not* mean
"language binding", even though that seems to be the term's usual
sense outside the IETF. The sense here frequently seems to be
something more akin to "service definition" and not tied to a
specific language binding, but I haven't seen it rigorously
spelled out here.
Well, to be a bit pedantic, it does stand for "Application Programming
Interface" :-)
Though folks also seem to use it to refer to Web Services and RESTful
interfaces, which are more in the nature of protocol specifications.
Miles
--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra