Flexible API: Moving beyond REST

Summary of: “Flexible API: Moving beyond REST” held on Friday, October 12, 2018 from 8 to 10 AM.

The move from an application-centric to a more data-centric and integrated systems approach is well underway. We’ve been successfully re-engineering workflows from internal user targets to include users across multiple stakeholders, multiple institutions, and disparate systems using REST based APIs for a while now. However, as the number of endpoints and integrated systems increase, the most significant limitations of REST-based APIs must be resolved:

• Discovery
• Flexibility
• Type-safety of data exchange
• Traceability
• Observability

There are a few emerging approaches worth considering – namely:

• GraphQL for next generation data-centric API endpoints
• gRPC for next-generation functionality-centric API endpoints
• Distributed event-oriented programming as an approach to create a more flexible and reliable systems integration strategy
• OpenTracing and OpenCensus for increased observability across complex API pathways across multiple boundaries

‍Shahid Shah, one of the most engaged CTO Roundtable member, has architected, designed and implemented several projects using these new approaches and will lead the discussion on the topic. Shahid, CEO of Netspective Communications, is a serial entrepreneur with over 28 years technology strategy and software engineering experience. He had led several complex projects in the fields of Government 2.0, Health IT, and Medical Device Integration. He has co-founded and led Netspective.com, Physia.com, InfluentialNetworks.com, HealthcareGuy.com, HITSphere.com, and simplifyMD.com within the last few years. Shahid also serves as a senior technology advisor to OMB’s Budget System Branch, the eGov Budget Formulation & Execution Line of Business (BFELoB.gov), Veterans Affairs (VA.gov), OSEHRA.org, and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC.gov).