Developing usable APIs with XP and cognitive dimensions

摘要

Developing a usable Application Programming Interface (API) is a complex and expensive task. Two major factors play important roles on the usability of an API: the design and resources (e.g. documentation, tutorials). API Developers typically evaluate the usability of an API after implementation that results in refactoring tasks if an API lacks usability after development. This refactoring could be avoided if evaluation were continuously conducted while development. This paper explores a new combined process for building usable APIs that combines concepts from a usability evaluation method (Cognitive Dimensions Framework) and an Agile development methodology (eXtreme Programming). We explored the effectiveness of this combined process by implementing a web-based API and conducting a user study. The findings from our evaluation indicated that the new process helped in designing and building a usable API, but ignored some concerns related to resources.