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Why does the stats API Call return an Array instead of just an object?

Example Response:

{ "statistics": [ { "total_questions": 723903, "total_unanswered": 114097, "total_answers": 2002231, "total_comments": 2838514, "total_votes": 7046950, "total_badges": 725485, "total_users": 260132, "questions_per_minute": 1.89, "answers_per_minute": 3.79, "badges_per_minute": 1.45, "api_version": { "version": "0.8", "revision": "2010.6.9.1" }, "display_name": "Stack Overflow" } ] }

Instead of:

{ "statistics": { "total_questions": 723903, "total_unanswered": 114097, "total_answers": 2002231, "total_comments": 2838514, "total_votes": 7046950, "total_badges": 725485, "total_users": 260132, "questions_per_minute": 1.89, "answers_per_minute": 3.79, "badges_per_minute": 1.45, "api_version": { "version": "0.8", "revision": "2010.6.9.1" }, "display_name": "Stack Overflow" } }

Is there plans to return more than one element ever?

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2 Answers 2

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Symmetry mostly. Every other method returns a collection, why should /stats be a one off?

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  • Because it's a single result, I'd say. Commented Jun 11, 2010 at 0:50
  • If you do automatic code generation of an API wrapper it makes the wrapper ugly. Commented Jun 11, 2010 at 1:35
  • @Robert - automatic code generation is neat, but you can't really expect it to be as good as a handcrafted API. Accordingly, changes meant solely to improve the automatic code generation case aren't really all that compelling. Commented Jun 11, 2010 at 1:51
  • @robert - if you look at generated api consumer code as a core library and the bulk of your code and then wrap your wrapper with purty code the story becomes a bit more compelling. Kevin ++. Commented Jun 14, 2010 at 10:50
  • I have used code generation to make sure parameters and properties have nice XML Comments, and that I have not missed something. I have then modified it to make it look pretty from there. If an entire new API Method was introduced I would generate it initially as well. Commented Jun 14, 2010 at 22:28
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I have found that the uniformity of having all of the methods return arrays has made writing a library much easier. Of course if it is a call (like the stats method) which always returns just one result, you don't have to expose it as a list to the API consumer. I don't have any experience with code generation and web APIs so I can't speak to that.

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  • It's fine for most methods to return an array, because they all potentially return multiple results. Except statistics. I don't expose it as a list in my library, but I can certainly say that it being an array doesn't make things any easier for me. If no wrapper library is going to expose it as a list, why should the API itself expose it as such? It really doesn't make sense to me. Commented Jun 11, 2010 at 11:59
  • ++ for 'package it howz you likes it' @ColinD - consistent api calls, or symmetry as kevin says, make consumption less complex in my experience. which is a good thing. Commented Jun 14, 2010 at 10:47

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