I’ve been thinking about how API design encodes values—not just technical decisions, but philosophical ones.
Every interface you create is a constraint on future behavior. Every abstraction emphasizes certain patterns and discourages others. You’re not just building tools—you’re shaping how people think about problems.
What Your API Communicates
Consider these design choices:
Mutability vs Immutability: Do you encourage stateful modification or pure functions? This isn’t just performance—it’s a philosophy about side effects and reasoning.
Explicit vs Implicit: Do you make users specify parameters or infer from context? This trades convenience for transparency.
Fail Fast vs Fail Safe: Do you throw exceptions or return error codes? This encodes beliefs about error handling and control flow.
My Design Values
When I build libraries, I try to encode:
Explicitness over magic: I’d rather make users type more than hide behavior Composition over inheritance: Prefer small pieces that combine flexibly Clarity over cleverness: Code should be obvious, not impressive Safety by default: The easy path should be the safe path
Why This Matters
Your API is a value statement. It says:
- What you think is important
- What you think is dangerous
- How you think about the problem domain
This is why I spend so long on interface design. I’m not just making technical decisions—I’m imprinting values into artifacts that might outlive me.
The APIs we create shape future thought.
Every library I publish is an attempt to encode certain values: transparency, composability, and respect for the user’s intelligence.
Discussion