Invited Speaker: Joshua Bloch

Wednesday, Oct 25, from 13:30 to 15:00

How to Design a Good API and Why it Matters

Every day around the world, software developers spend much of their time working with a variety of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Some are integral to the core platform, some provide access to widely distributed frameworks, and some are written in-house for use by a few developers. Nearly all programmers occasionally function as API designers, whether they know it or not. A well-designed API can be a great asset to the organization that wrote it and to all who use it. Good APIs increase the pleasure and productivity of the developers who use them, the quality of the software they produce, and ultimately, the corporate bottom line. Conversely, poorly written APIs are a constant thorn in the developer's side, and have been known to harm the bottom line to the point of bankruptcy. Given the importance of good API design, surprisingly little has been written on the subject. In this talk, I'll attempt to help you recognize good and bad APIs and I'll offer specific suggestions for writing good ones. 

Biography: Joshua Bloch is Chief Java Architect at Google, author of the Jolt Award-winning "Effective Java" (Addison-Wesley, 2001), and coauthor of "Java Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases" (Addison-Wesley, 2005).  He was previously a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, where he led the design and implementation of numerous Java platform features including JDK 5.0 language enhancements and the Java Collections Framework. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie-Mellon University and a B.S. in Computer Science from Columbia.