In the Web’s earliest years, developers used simple HTTP interfaces, CGI scripts, and server modules to stitch together internal systems. This chapter traces how those early patterns anticipated microservices and modern internal API ecosystems.
OpenAPI didn’t exist in the early 1990s, but the Web’s first standards—URLs, HTTP, MIME types, and simple server-side interfaces—introduced the core idea that an API can be described consistently. This chapter traces the roots of standardized API descriptions from 1990 to 1994.
From the earliest HTTP requests to CGI-driven endpoints, the Web’s 1990–1994 interface ideas quietly shaped the patterns that power today’s GitHub API automation—webhooks, CI triggers, and machine-to-machine workflows.
Long before Twilio made communications programmable, the early Web (1990–1994) established the practical building blocks of web APIs: URL addressing, request/response patterns, and simple server interfaces that taught developers how to “call” a service over HTTP.
From 1990 to 1994, the Web had URLs, MIME types, and early HTTP—but not browser-native audio/video. This chapter explains how those early interfaces shaped what HTML5 media APIs eventually became.
In the Web’s first years, HTTP’s simple request/response model made “real-time” feel out of reach. This chapter traces the early interface patterns—HTTP/0.9, evolving headers, and CGI scripts—that set the stage for later solutions like the WebSocket API.
Long before Web Workers existed, early 1990s browsers and HTTP libraries faced the same problem: how to avoid locking up the user experience while fetching and processing network data. This chapter traces the API roots that later made true background processing possible.
In 1990–1994, the Web didn’t have a Canvas API—yet early HTTP interfaces, URLs, MIME types, and server-side image generation established the core API patterns that later enabled rich visual web applications.
Long before browsers exposed precise location, early HTTP servers and CGI scripts (1990–1994) improvised “where are you?” signals using IP addresses, DNS, and user input—foundational ideas that later shaped the Geolocation API and modern contextual web experiences.
In the Web’s first years (1990–1994), there was no localStorage, no IndexedDB, and not even JavaScript. Yet developers still needed state. This chapter traces how early HTTP interfaces, forms, and the first cookie experiments pushed the Web toward browser storage APIs and richer client applications.