Another question following Stefans and my talk was when to open source an API asked by @xavismeh. How soon should you go public especially with an API which will be seen and used not only by normal users but by people who can judge your coding?
I can perfectly understand why someone would hesitate to expose themselves to a developing public. It’s always people of the same profession who will criticize you the hardest you might think.
Which is not always true. Sure there are many people who know how to code that will jump on any mistake and put you down. But I believe this to be the minority. Anyway you shouldn’t listen to them and rather look for the ones who give you constructive feedback that you can learn from.
So the answer is to open as early as possible. For this reason and others.
Another reason especially applying to APIs is that developers who are the typical audience for an API will help your product to become a success. After all you open an API to be used by other parties to build applications around your core. The sooner that starts happening the more attractive your product can become. Think Facebook without apps.
