Re: IETF and APIs

[Dave CROCKER <[e-mail]>]

On 3/29/2011 11:17 AM, Sam Hartman wrote:
> One level is the traditional protocol interoperability we normally
> discuss.
>
> Another level shows up when you want to write a cross-platform
> application.  It's not good enough if Windows has some API. I want to
> have confidence that functionality is available on Windows, OSX, Linux
> and some of the mobile platforms before I depend on that functionality
> in a cross-platform API.
>
> Within the web platform, I want to make sure functionality is available
> on multiple browsers before I depend on it in my cross-browser
> application.

With respect to application-level system design, I think your distinction is 
equivalent to component-testing vs. integrated system testing.  Within the IETF, 
it should be a distinction between lower-level end-to-end and upper-level 
end-to-end.

I certainly agree that upper-level end2end testing is essential.

The Other Dave C's highlighting the possibility of an "abstract" API is also 
worth considering.

d/
-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net