Published : Apr 13, 2021
NOT ON THE CURRENT EDITION
This blip is not on the current edition of the Radar. If it was on one of the last few editions, it is likely that it is still relevant. If the blip is older, it might no longer be relevant and our assessment might be different today. Unfortunately, we simply don't have the bandwidth to continuously review blips from previous editions of the Radar.
Understand more
Apr 2021
Adopt
We feel strongly that the industry should be adopting these items. We use them when appropriate on our projects.
The API expand-contract pattern, sometimes called parallel change, will be familiar to many, especially when used with databases or code; however, we only see low levels of adoption with APIs. Specifically, we're seeing complex versioning schemes and breaking changes used in scenarios where a simple expand and then contract would suffice. For example, first adding to an API while deprecating an existing element, and then only later removing the deprecated elements once consumers are switched to the newer schema. This approach does require some coordination and visibility of the API consumers, perhaps through a technique such as consumer-driven contract testing.
