Foreword
Preface
1. Introduction
What Are Application Programming Interfaces?
What's Different about API Design?
Why Should You Use APIs?
When Should You Avoid APIs?
API Examples
File Formats and Network Protocols
About This Book
2. Qualities
Model the Problem Domain
Hide Implementation Details
Minimally Complete
Easy to Use
Loosely Coupled
Stable, Documented, and Tested
3. Patterns
Pimpl Idiom
Singleton
Factory Methods
API Wrapping Patterns
Observer Pattern
4. Design
A Case for Good Design
Gathering Functional Requirements
Creating Use Cases
Elements of API Design
Architecture Design
Class Design
Function Design
5. Styles
Flat C APIs
Object-Oriented C++ APIs
Template-Based APIs
Data-Driven APIs
6. C++ Usage
Namespaces
Constructors and Assignment
Const Correctness
Templates
Operator Overloading
Function Parameters
Avoid #define for Constants
Avoid Using Friends
Exporting Symbols
Coding Conventions
7. Performance
Pass Input Arguments by Const Reference
Minimize #include Dependencies
Declaring Constants
Initialization Lists
Memory Optimization
Don't Inline Until You Need To
Copy on Write
Iterating Over Elements
Performance Analysis
8. Versioning
Version Numbers
Software Branching Strategies
Life Cycle of an API
Levels of Compatibility
How to Maintain Backward Compatibility
API Reviews
9. Documentation
Reasons to Write Documentation
Types of Documentation
Documentation Usability
Using Doxygen
10. Testing
Reasons to Write Tests
Types of API Testing
Writing Good Tests
Writing Testable Code
Automated Testing Tools
11. Scripting
Adding Script Bindings
Script-Binding Technologies
Adding Python Bindings with Boost Python
Adding Ruby Bindings with SWIG
12. Extensibility
Extending via Plugins
Extending via Inheritance
Extending via Templates
Appendix A: Libraries
Static versus Dynamic Libraries
Libraries on Windows
Libraries on Linux
Libraries on Mac OS X
Bibliography
Index