Leonard Richardson

This book positions itself to be the basic reference for developers who are designing distributed computing systems that use the dominant pattern of REST (Representational State Transfer). The authors describe how most API standardization still centers around human readable documentation of fiat standards instead of machine readable formats which have been around for some time now, and the benefits of moving to a more machine-centered approach. The problem of upgrading an API can be solved at the design stage by the right choice of hypermedia and the use of existing standards when possible. They take the approach of devoting the first half to elementary examples of resource representations, in html, json, xml, or forms derived from these standards, without listing specific examples of code to generate or consume those representations. The latter half describes some standards which did not exist or were not widespread at the time of the previous version of the book, and while it does not try to be an encyclopedic list of APIs, it does point to online repositories where new standards will be published.
It was a good reference book for someone who isn’t currently an expert in the area covered, with down to earth (if not to say simplistic) examples to illustrate the best practices they discuss.… (more)

The book is interesting mostly for reasons, first of all it features video games as a cultural Rosetta Stone. The thesis is that one would be able to help widely different advanced cultures understand each other through a game's design and play. The other thing is that the alien races here are truly alien. They think and act differently than humans and that is a difficult idea to show in a novel.

Unfortunately the author doesn't have a consistent style or tone throughout the novel and it gets distracting. At first it is an epistolary story told in emails and blog posts. Then it adds "real life" sections which change the tone abruptly.

Also it morphs from a commentary about video games, alien first contact story, love story, singularity, and probably a few other things that I've forgotten. More focus on a couple of things would have made this novel stronger.

Still worth reading, but with some caution.… (more)

The premise of this book was intriguing -- first contact with aliens and learning how to interact with them by studying their videogames. The book stuck to that premise, but unfortunately was very fan-boy based. Very. Other than the AI girl conversing with the best friend (who the protagonist obviously loves), it wouldn't pass the Bechdel Test.

I picked this out based on Ready Player One and Red Shirts, so I guess I got what I should have expected. (I think that Armada is a better match for this book than Ready Player One.) Still, it would be a good beach read if you're looking for one.… (more)