> It is my hope that these maxims provide a concise summary of the key points of API design, in easily digestible form: > > **All programmers are API designers.** Good programs are modular, and intermodular boundaries define APIs. Good modules get reused. > > **APIs can be among your greatest assets or liabilities.** Good APIs create long-term customers; bad ones create long-term support nightmares. [InfoQ: Joshua Bloch: Bumper-Sticker API Design](http://www.infoq.com/articles/API-Design-Joshua-Bloch).

We’ve been working on building web services for our big project here at work and the API of the services has been a concern of mine for awhile. We’ve mostly been throwing these things together for one-off needs but I’d like to start formalizing a bit of what we’ve done to make it more manageable and maintainable. I think I’m going to print this list out and keep it handy.