Simple KISSes and surprises
A discussion about "Reasonable Minimal Interfaces" and the Principal of Minimum Surprise ...
"Wow. Elliotte's criticism to the so called "Humane Interface" API design "school of thought" has spawn an Internet wide discussion (meme?) about simplicity in API design.
So I decided to review yesterday's entry, and go take a look at the Internet, to try to see what makes an API a good API. At least for me. And this is what I've found (and, as always, all feedback is welcome).
Surprise, surprise... Yesterday I talked about the importance of following idioms and language conventions. Today a principle backs up this idea. The so called Principle of minimum surprise (or "Principle of least astonishment") states it clearly:
In user interface design, programming language design, and ergonomics, the principle (or rule) of least astonishment (or surprise) states that, when two elements of an interface conflict or are ambiguous, the behaviour should be that which will least surprise the human user or programmer at the time the conflict arises, because the least surprising behavior will usually be the correct one." continued ... (Via Let's Swing!)
"Wow. Elliotte's criticism to the so called "Humane Interface" API design "school of thought" has spawn an Internet wide discussion (meme?) about simplicity in API design.
So I decided to review yesterday's entry, and go take a look at the Internet, to try to see what makes an API a good API. At least for me. And this is what I've found (and, as always, all feedback is welcome).
Surprise, surprise... Yesterday I talked about the importance of following idioms and language conventions. Today a principle backs up this idea. The so called Principle of minimum surprise (or "Principle of least astonishment") states it clearly:
In user interface design, programming language design, and ergonomics, the principle (or rule) of least astonishment (or surprise) states that, when two elements of an interface conflict or are ambiguous, the behaviour should be that which will least surprise the human user or programmer at the time the conflict arises, because the least surprising behavior will usually be the correct one." continued ... (Via Let's Swing!)
Google Web API.
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