Managing versions
API development is typically not a set it and forget it type of process. As bugs are discovered and new features are introduced to your APIs, you will need to roll out a new version of them. Since you are likely dealing with many consumers of your APIs, both internally and externally, you would not expect them to just adopt this new version as soon as you roll it out. Of course, each consumer will have their own quality assurance process and timeline so you will need to leave prior versions accessible for each consumer until they adopt the most current one. Also, some versions may have a direct impact on consumers, such as an interface change, which would require them to make a change to adopt this new version, while other versions may only be an implementation change where the consumers are not directly impacted.
Understanding that changes to your APIs are likely and versioning them is critical, we must realize that a consumer does not subscribe to an API itself...
