[Haskell-cafe] Re: APIs (was: Unexported functions are evil)

[ajb at spamcop.net]

G'day all.

Quoting Graham Klyne <GK at ninebynine.org>:

> I think you raise an important point.  Reading this, I realize that I have
> no principled basis for deciding what makes a good API, in any language.

Me neither.  Though I have short reading list.

First off, this series of articles by Ken Arnold.  They are a bit Java-
centric, but it's all good:

    http://www.artima.com/intv/perfect.html
    http://www.artima.com/intv/taste.html
    http://www.artima.com/intv/distrib.html
    http://www.artima.com/intv/sway.html
    http://www.artima.com/intv/decouple.html
    http://www.artima.com/intv/issues.html

Some of the modern C++ books like "Modern C++ Design" and "Generative
Programming" are worth a skim in lieu of a decent book on how to deal
with true parametric polymorphism and typeclasses.

Oh, if you can get a copy of "Software Fundamentals" (the collection of
Parnas papers), do it.  It's a fabulous read, even if you don't get much
in the way of API design out of it.

Cheers,
Andrew Bromage