commit blog post to aeps directory (#267)

This commits our first blog post to the aeps directory. The site-generator doesn't currently take in the blog posts, but this PR is a prerequisite.

Author: rambleraptor

blog/2024-in-review.md

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+---
+title: AEP's 2024 Year in Review
+date: 2024-12-19
+authors:
+  - name: Mak Ahmad
+  - name: Alex Stephen
+  - name: Yusuke Tsutsumi
+---
+
+# Building Better APIs Together: AEP's 2024 Year in Review
+
+As we close out 2024, we want to share the significant strides the API
+Enhancement Proposals (AEP) project has made in creating a more cohesive API
+ecosystem. What started as a fork of Google's API Improvement Proposals has
+evolved into something much more ambitious: an open, community-driven standard
+for building resource-oriented APIs that work consistently across different
+protocols and platforms.
+
+A brief summary of the achievements outlined below are:
+
+- The creation of aepc, an AEP "compiler" that takes a succinct resource
+  definition and generates protobuf and OpenAPI schemas.
+- The 0.1 release of aepcli, which can consume aep-compliant APIs and generate
+  a resource-oriented command-line-interfaces dynamically.
+- A complete linter for protobuf APIs, and starting an OAS variant.
+- aep-explorer: a prototype of a WEB UI to explore aep-compliant APIs.
+- A redesigned website (aep.dev), where this blog post is published!
+
+## The Vision Takes Shape
+
+This year clarified our core belief that API design shouldn't be a bikeshedding
+honeypot. By collecting hard-won design patterns from across the industry,
+we've worked to narrow the decisions API producers need to make while improving
+the experience for API consumers. Our approach focuses on resource-oriented
+design principles that can be expressed in both Protocol Buffers and OpenAPI,
+making AEPs protocol-agnostic while maintaining strong opinions about what
+makes APIs more usable and maintainable.
+
+## Major Technical Achievements
+
+### aepc: The AEP compiler
+
+We introduced [aepc](https://github.com/aep-dev/aepc), our service compiler
+that transforms concise resource definitions into fully-specified APIs. With
+just a few dozen lines of YAML describing your resources and their
+relationships, aepc generates complete Protocol Buffer and OpenAPI
+specifications that adhere to AEP standards. This dramatically reduces the
+boilerplate needed to create consistent APIs while enforcing best practices
+through generation rather than just validation.
+
+aepc is just a prototype with no official release at this moment, but it has
+been very useful, producing AEP-compliant OpenAPI and protobuf specifications
+that are used as examples in the specification.
+
+### aepcli: A Command-Line Interface for Everyone
+
+The launch of version 0.1 of [aepcli](https://github.com/aep-dev/aepcli) marked
+a significant milestone in our tooling journey. Rather than requiring every API
+provider to build their own CLI, aepcli dynamically generates a powerful
+command-line interface from any AEP-compliant API's OpenAPI specification. This
+client-side approach means new API features are immediately available without
+requiring CLI updates, solving a common pain point in API tooling.
+
+### aep-explorer
+
+To complement our command-line tools, we developed a web-based UI for browsing
+and interacting with AEP-compliant APIs:
+[aep-explorer](https://github.com/aep-dev/aep-explorer) . This provides a more
+visual way to understand and experiment with APIs while maintaining the same
+consistent interaction patterns that make AEPs valuable.
+
+### Enhanced Linting Capabilities
+
+A major focus this year was improving our linting capabilities, particularly
+for OpenAPI specifications. Mike Kistler led the effort to revitalize our
+[OpenAPI linter](https://github.com/aep-dev/aep-openapi-linter), implementing
+rules for key AEPs including AEP-132 (List methods) and AEP-135. The linter
+helps teams validate their APIs against AEP guidance, catching common issues
+early in the development process.
+
+Significantly progress was also made for our
+[protobuf linter](https://github.com/aep-dev/api-linter), which is now
+compliant with all of the updated guidance in aep.dev.
+
+The linter's approach balances pragmatism with standards enforcement \- while
+some rules are mandatory, others can be selectively adopted based on an
+organization's needs. This flexibility helps teams gradually adopt AEP
+practices while maintaining consistent APIs. The project uses Spectral as its
+foundation, allowing teams to build on an established tooling ecosystem while
+adding AEP-specific validations.
+
+To help teams get started, we've included comprehensive test cases and example
+APIs that demonstrate proper implementation of AEP patterns. The linter has
+already helped identify areas where our documentation needed clarification,
+particularly around operation IDs and resource naming conventions.
+
+### Improved Infrastructure
+
+A major focus this year was improving the components used for learning about
+the AEP standards and enforcing them in our organization.
+
+To help teams get started, we've built comprehensive test cases and example
+APIs that demonstrate proper implementation of AEP patterns. The linters have
+already helped identify areas where our documentation needed clarification,
+particularly around operation IDs and resource naming conventions.
+
+Additionally, we've built out a new aep.dev website based on a new framework to
+help highlight our guidance and to help the team release new content over time.
+
+## Community Growth
+
+### The March Barn Raising
+
+On Pi Day (March 14), we held our first community "barn raising" event,
+bringing together contributors from across companies and time zones. The event
+focused on improving documentation, adding OpenAPI examples, and making AEPs
+more accessible to newcomers. This collaborative effort helped us identify and
+address gaps in our guidance while strengthening our community bonds.
+
+### Expanding Global Reach
+
+Recognizing our growing international community, we established EU-friendly
+meeting times and welcomed contributors from companies like DoubleVerify,
+providing valuable feedback on real-world AEP adoption. This led to
+improvements in our documentation and examples, particularly around pagination
+and custom methods.
+
+### Educational Content
+
+We launched the [@aepdev](https://www.youtube.com/@aepdev) YouTube channel
+featuring detailed demonstrations of our tooling and explanations of AEP
+concepts. These videos help newcomers understand both the technical details and
+the broader vision of what we're building.
+
+## Looking Forward to 2025
+
+As we enter the new year, our focus areas include:
+
+1. Expanding our linting tools across both Protocol Buffer and OpenAPI
+   specifications
+2. Building more client generators, including Terraform providers and
+   Kubernetes operators
+3. Working with the OpenAPI community on resource-oriented API patterns
+4. Supporting more companies in adopting AEPs, with clear migration paths and
+   tooling support
+
+## Get Involved
+
+We're building AEPs in the open and welcome contributions of all kinds. You can
+join us:
+
+- On CNCF Slack in the \#aep channel
+- At our weekly community meetings (Fridays at 11:30am PT)
+- On GitHub at [github.com/aep-dev](https://github.com/aep-dev)
+- Through our documentation at [aep.dev](https://aep.dev)
+
+Whether you're building new APIs or working to improve existing ones, we
+believe AEPs can help make that process more consistent and maintainable. Join
+us in building better APIs together\!