In Proceedings of the 2006 OOPSLA workshop on eclipse technology eXchange , Dr Bloch gives some maxims for API design (an accessible copy of them is here).

While some of the advice seems to be in the category of "Don't eat toads", e.g., "Overload with care", most of them seem pretty sensible, and applicable to just about any language.

emc

At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation.

—Igor Sikorsky, reported in AOPA Pilot magazine February 2003.

In reply to Joshua Bloch's "How to Design a Good API and Why it Matters" by swampyankee

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