Re: APIs, messaging

[Thomas Passin <tpassin@home.com>]

In a business setting, your data (and data model) is usually going to be the
most stable thing you have.  The data model reflects the essential nature of
the business, and may (at least at a high level) be basically unchanged for
decades - you always have your customers and invoices, for example, even if
customers didn't used to have zip codes.

But what you want to DO with the data is likely to change much more
frequently.  So a data-centric approach is very sensible, and the processes
(and APIs, perhaps) will change more often..

Cheers,

Tom P

[Jeff Lowery]

> I would only give the added perspective that a data model, such as defined
> by an XML Schema or SQL DDL, tends towards stability (the data model grows
> [quickly], but the constraints, cardinalities, and types seem to stabilize
> for those parts of the model that have been around for awhile). A lot of
> APIs seem to outgrow their usefulness after  a few years in production.
> Defining data models also tend to be more cut-and-dried than defining
APIs,
> which are more subjective.
>