Generating an application programming interface by analyzing source code metadata

A system for generating an application programming interface (API), the system comprising:

• a memory having computer-readable instructions;
• and
• one or more processors for executing the computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions comprising:
• receiving metadata describing one or more source files of a program, wherein the one or more source files define a plurality of modules;
• selecting a first module of the plurality of modules;
• traversing a chain of modules beginning at the first module, based on the metadata, wherein the chain of modules represents one or more nested module calls described in the metadata;
• wherein the traversing comprises maintaining a set of common include files comprising one or more include files that are common to each module visited in the traversal of the chain of modules;
• placing each include file in the set of common include files into at least one of a request file list and a response file list;
• remove an include file from the set of common include files upon evaluating a module in the chain of modules that does not include the include file;
• ending the traversal when a termination condition is met, wherein the termination condition is met when the set of common include files comprises no more than a single include file;
• and
• generating an API for the first module by submitting the set of common include files, the request file list, and the response file list to an API generator,
• wherein the termination condition is met before every module in the chain of modules is traversed.

A computer-program product for generating an application programming interface (API), the computer-program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

• receiving metadata describing one or more source files of a program, wherein the one or more source files define a plurality of modules;
• selecting a first module of the plurality of modules;
• traversing a chain of modules beginning at the first module, based on the metadata, wherein the chain of modules represents one or more nested module calls described in the metadata;
• wherein the traversing comprises maintaining a set of common include files comprising one or more include files that are common to each module visited in the traversal of the chain of modules;
• placing each include file in the set of common include files into at least one of a request file list and a response file list;
• removing an include file from the set of common include files upon evaluating a module in the chain of modules that does not include the include file;
• ending the traversal when a termination condition is met, wherein the termination condition is met when the set of common include files comprises no more than a single include file;
• and
• generating an API for the first module by submitting the set of common include files, the request file list, and the response file list to an API generator,
• wherein the termination condition is met before every module in the chain of modules is traversed.