Learning from Noda Time: a case study in API design and open source (good, bad and ugly)
Several years ago, just after complaining how dates and times are too hard in front of hundreds of people, I felt I really ought to put my money (or at least my time) where my mouth was, and make things easier. And so, Noda Time was born.
In this talk I’ll give a brief description of the problem space, why a new library was needed, and some of the features that I think make for a good API. I’ll also dive into some of the areas I’ve learned more about while working on Noda Time – documentation, collaboration, performance, continuous integration, refactoring… all the details of a healthy open source project, basically.
Even if I can’t persuade you to use Noda Time by the end of the session, I hope I’ll be able to shed some light on my own thought processes when it comes to API design, and some of the very real issues raised by real world library development.
Topics covered -