From Chaos to Zen - Lessons Learned from Developing User-Friendly APIs

Learn essential principles for creating user-friendly Python APIs in this 41-minute conference talk from PyCon South Africa. Explore key aspects of API design focused on developer experience, including consistent naming conventions, predictable data types, clear documentation, and proper error handling. Discover common pitfalls to avoid such as overly complex endpoints, insufficient documentation, and unclear rate limits. Through practical examples and real-world case studies, examine how these principles apply across different API types, with special attention to Python package APIs. Study exemplary implementations like the Google API Python Client and the Polars project while gaining insights into empathy-driven design approaches that transform complex systems into intuitive developer tools.