API Design for C++

Martin Reddy, CEO, Code Reddy

The design of application programming interfaces can affect the behavior, capabilities, stability, and ease of use of end-user applications. With this book, you will learn how to design a good API for large-scale long-term projects. With extensive C++ code to illustrate each concept, API Design for C++ covers all of the strategies of world-class API development. Martin Reddy draws on over fifteen years of experience in the software industry to offer in-depth discussions of interface design, documentation, testing, and the advanced topics of scripting and plug-in extensibility. Throughout, he focuses on various API styles and patterns that will allow you to produce elegant and durable libraries.

Audience
All software engineers developing C++ code to be used by other developers, whether via APIs, libraries, device drivers, or other reusable components.

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Paperback, 472 Pages

Published: February 2011

Imprint: Morgan Kaufmann

ISBN: 978-0-12-385003-4

Reviews

Martin Reddy draws from his experience on large scale, collaborative software projects to present patterns and practices that provide real value to individual developers as well as organizations. API Design for C++ explores often overlooked issues, both technical and non- technical, contributing to successful design decisions that produce high quality, robust, and long-lived APIs. - Eric Gregory, Software Architect, Pixar Animation Studios
"Intended for programmers with intermediate to advanced skills in the C++ programming language, this guide to the building of useful and robust application programming interfaces (APIs) provides practical instruction for software engineers developing systems on which downstream software engineers depend. The work provides a methodical approach to API design covering solution based API design, performance, versioning, documentation, testing, scripting, extensibility and libraries. The work includes numerous illustrations and code examples and access to additional online resources is provided. Reddy is a software development consultant."--Book News, Reference & Research

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

API Design for C++

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Contents