Microservices seem to be a very popular concept in software design, and it is one I have trouble fully understanding. Because of this, I wanted to spend some time developing my understanding. Chris Richardson’s “Introduction to Microservices” is the first article in a series of seven discussing microservices; it compares microservices architecture to monolithic architecture, and it is where I began looking.

Monolithic architecture typically involves one application at its core built to handle a multitude of tasks. This application may branch out into APIs, adapters, or UIs that allow the application to access objects outside of its scope. This application, along with its more modular pieces, is packaged and deployed as a single monolith.

This approach to software design has some inherent problems. Applications tend to grow in size, scope, and lines of code over time. In a monolithic application, code can easily become too large and too complex to efficiently deal with. The resulting applications are often too complicated for a single developer to understand, which also complicates further development. Larger applications also suffer from longer start-up times. Continuous deployment becomes difficult since the entire project needs to be redeployed. It’s difficult to scale monolithic applications as well as employ new frameworks or languages.

Many of the issues monolithic architecture is prone to can be solved by instead adopting microservices architecture. Microservices architecture involves splitting an application into connected but smaller services. These services are typically dedicated to a single feature or functionality and are usually each run in an individual Docker container or VM.

Using microservices architecture comes with a number of benefits. Splitting a complicated, monolithic application into smaller pieces makes that application significantly less complicated. It becomes easier for individual developers to understand the services, thus making development faster. This also allows a team of developers to focus on a single service. Teams can become more familiar with the service they are working on, and maintenance becomes more manageable. Splitting an application into microservices also makes that application easier to scale.

Despite its benefits, microservices architecture is not without its drawbacks. Splitting an application into microservices can introduce a new complexity. These services need to talk to each other, so a mechanism to send and receive these messages must be put in place. It is also more complicated to test an application that uses microservices. A test class for a monolithic application would only need to start that application, but a test class for a microservices application would have to know which services it needs to work.

I chose this article because I appreciated how thorough the information was. I plan on reading the remaining six articles in Richardson’s series. I had not thought about how connecting microservices together might complicate a project. I will be thinking about the pros and cons of microservices as I continue into my career.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Ciampa's Computer Science Blog by robiciampa and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week I am going to over a post from the CodeGuru. The post starts by talking about the importance of refactoring, what it is and why we refactor. They define refactoring as the process of restructuring or improving the internal structure of code while keeping the functionality of the code and not changing its external behavior. The article then goes on to talk about when the pros and cons of refactoring and why sometimes it is not best to refactor.

Refactoring code can help prevent bugs but if done improperly, refactoring code can also create bugs in your code so that is why it is important to be careful when refactoring code. In the article, it talks about how it is a good habit to analyze your code before refactoring code. If after analyzing your code, you find that you have to refactor most of your code, they caution you against refactoring the program because you may end up creating more work for yourself. Instead, they recommend that it may be better to start over from scratch. Another practice they implore coders to follow is you should not refactor code if you don’t have the tests or plan to create the tests for that code. This is because, without the tests, you may not have sufficient information about whether or not your code has changed the behavior of the program. Another good practice they recommend is you should wait until you deliver the product and use the time in between tasks to refactor code. Software development can be a very time-sensitive industry so some good practices that we should have as programmers are we should be mindful of the time we have before deadlines and be able to analyze whether a task can reasonably be done in the allotted amount of time. We should also establish clear and achievable goals and refactor code in between tasks and before adding new features to the program so that we can avoid technical debt.

I chose this post to review this week because I think it is a very important topic not just in this class but in programming in general. One of the reasons why I chose this topic, in particular, is because in class we often toss the term around in class, we know what it is and how to do it, but we never really talk about how to do it well or what are some good practices that we should follow. Personally, I have been following some of these practices all along such as gauging my time before deadlines and making objectives along the way, but I also have a really bad habit of deviating from those objectives. There were so many times in my undergraduate career where right before an assignment is due, I ended up refactoring the program from start to finish or redoing the entire assignment from scratch. Now that I know good refactoring habits, I can avoid this in the future.

https://www.codeguru.com/csharp/best-practices-for-code-refactoring/

From the blog CS@Worcester – Just a Guy Passing By by Eric Nguyen and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello
blog (mood-status: feeling Good), writing this blog after thanksgiving
dinner and eating well like pretty good with a plate of food alongside
hanging the family. But anyway, on writing about this week-11. To be
truthful here, I writing this because I am falling behind on blogs when
there is nothing to talk about, besides kept being busy with other
courses like HWs and projects, etc. (You get the point. Well, if you are
a student) 

I decided to go on the Syllabus to look at the course topics.

I found the subject of Modeling along with Unified Modeling Language (UML) & C4 Model.

Unified Modeling Language

Large
Companies’ applications that execute core business applications and
keep a company going can more than some code modules. It can structure
in a way that enables:

• scalability
• security 
• robust execution under stressful conditions. 

Their structure is that maintenance programmers can find and fix a bug
that shows up after moving on to other projects. These programs can
design to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is
not the only one. A well-designed architecture benefits any program, and
not only the largest ones as singled out. It mentioned large
applications first because the structure deals with complexity, so the
benefits of the network compound as the application size grows large. 

Another use of a structure that enables code reuse was design time.
Ultimately, companies build up models of parts, each unit representing
an implementation stored in code modules. At coding time, the developer
can as promptly import the code module into the application. When
another application needs the same functionality, the designer can
quickly import its module from the library.

The C4 model

The
C4 model made by Simon Brown designates on UML and the 4+1
architectural view model. It breaks down software into smaller units for
modeling. Like the quick methodology, the C4 model requires fast,
efficient sharing and constant updates of software architecture in
software development.

The
C4 model (shown as a map). The Maps can build on a different scale. By
changing scales, like for example; The town map with streets and
buildings. Having the C4 model changes the level of a diagram to
describe software architecture. Using the abstraction-first approach, C4
conducts modeling top-down from system context to lower levels.

• Person (Element) – users or roles of a software system
• Software
  system (topmost level in abstractions) – the value of existing systems
  or systems under development and the interaction between those systems
• Container
  (Element) – the internals of software systems, usually applications or
  solutions for data storage. A different concept to containers in Docker.
  It mainly refers to software that is single deployed.
• Component (Abstraction element) – The containers of modules or a set of interfaces grouped as a functional unit.
• Relations – dependencies or data flow between abstraction elements.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello
blog (mood-status: feeling Good), writing this blog after thanksgiving
dinner and eating well like pretty good with a plate of food alongside
hanging the family. But anyway, on writing about this week-11. To be
truthful here, I writing this because I am falling behind on blogs when
there is nothing to talk about, besides kept being busy with other
courses like HWs and projects, etc. (You get the point. Well, if you are
a student) 

I decided to go on the Syllabus to look at the course topics.

I found the subject of Modeling along with Unified Modeling Language (UML) & C4 Model.

Unified Modeling Language

Large
Companies’ applications that execute core business applications and
keep a company going can more than some code modules. It can structure
in a way that enables:

• scalability
• security 
• robust execution under stressful conditions. 

Their structure is that maintenance programmers can find and fix a bug
that shows up after moving on to other projects. These programs can
design to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is
not the only one. A well-designed architecture benefits any program, and
not only the largest ones as singled out. It mentioned large
applications first because the structure deals with complexity, so the
benefits of the network compound as the application size grows large. 

Another use of a structure that enables code reuse was design time.
Ultimately, companies build up models of parts, each unit representing
an implementation stored in code modules. At coding time, the developer
can as promptly import the code module into the application. When
another application needs the same functionality, the designer can
quickly import its module from the library.

The C4 model

The
C4 model made by Simon Brown designates on UML and the 4+1
architectural view model. It breaks down software into smaller units for
modeling. Like the quick methodology, the C4 model requires fast,
efficient sharing and constant updates of software architecture in
software development.

The
C4 model (shown as a map). The Maps can build on a different scale. By
changing scales, like for example; The town map with streets and
buildings. Having the C4 model changes the level of a diagram to
describe software architecture. Using the abstraction-first approach, C4
conducts modeling top-down from system context to lower levels.

• Person (Element) – users or roles of a software system
• Software
  system (topmost level in abstractions) – the value of existing systems
  or systems under development and the interaction between those systems
• Container
  (Element) – the internals of software systems, usually applications or
  solutions for data storage. A different concept to containers in Docker.
  It mainly refers to software that is single deployed.
• Component (Abstraction element) – The containers of modules or a set of interfaces grouped as a functional unit.
• Relations – dependencies or data flow between abstraction elements.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello
blog (mood-status: feeling Good), writing this blog after thanksgiving
dinner and eating well like pretty good with a plate of food alongside
hanging the family. But anyway, on writing about this week-11. To be
truthful here, I writing this because I am falling behind on blogs when
there is nothing to talk about, besides kept being busy with other
courses like HWs and projects, etc. (You get the point. Well, if you are
a student) 

I decided to go on the Syllabus to look at the course topics.

I found the subject of Modeling along with Unified Modeling Language (UML) & C4 Model.

Unified Modeling Language

Large
Companies’ applications that execute core business applications and
keep a company going can more than some code modules. It can structure
in a way that enables:

• scalability
• security 
• robust execution under stressful conditions. 

Their structure is that maintenance programmers can find and fix a bug
that shows up after moving on to other projects. These programs can
design to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is
not the only one. A well-designed architecture benefits any program, and
not only the largest ones as singled out. It mentioned large
applications first because the structure deals with complexity, so the
benefits of the network compound as the application size grows large. 

Another use of a structure that enables code reuse was design time.
Ultimately, companies build up models of parts, each unit representing
an implementation stored in code modules. At coding time, the developer
can as promptly import the code module into the application. When
another application needs the same functionality, the designer can
quickly import its module from the library.

The C4 model

The
C4 model made by Simon Brown designates on UML and the 4+1
architectural view model. It breaks down software into smaller units for
modeling. Like the quick methodology, the C4 model requires fast,
efficient sharing and constant updates of software architecture in
software development.

The
C4 model (shown as a map). The Maps can build on a different scale. By
changing scales, like for example; The town map with streets and
buildings. Having the C4 model changes the level of a diagram to
describe software architecture. Using the abstraction-first approach, C4
conducts modeling top-down from system context to lower levels.

• Person (Element) – users or roles of a software system
• Software
  system (topmost level in abstractions) – the value of existing systems
  or systems under development and the interaction between those systems
• Container
  (Element) – the internals of software systems, usually applications or
  solutions for data storage. A different concept to containers in Docker.
  It mainly refers to software that is single deployed.
• Component (Abstraction element) – The containers of modules or a set of interfaces grouped as a functional unit.
• Relations – dependencies or data flow between abstraction elements.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello
blog (mood-status: feeling Good), writing this blog after thanksgiving
dinner and eating well like pretty good with a plate of food alongside
hanging the family. But anyway, on writing about this week-11. To be
truthful here, I writing this because I am falling behind on blogs when
there is nothing to talk about, besides kept being busy with other
courses like HWs and projects, etc. (You get the point. Well, if you are
a student) 

I decided to go on the Syllabus to look at the course topics.

I found the subject of Modeling along with Unified Modeling Language (UML) & C4 Model.

Unified Modeling Language

Large
Companies’ applications that execute core business applications and
keep a company going can more than some code modules. It can structure
in a way that enables:

• scalability
• security 
• robust execution under stressful conditions. 

Their structure is that maintenance programmers can find and fix a bug
that shows up after moving on to other projects. These programs can
design to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is
not the only one. A well-designed architecture benefits any program, and
not only the largest ones as singled out. It mentioned large
applications first because the structure deals with complexity, so the
benefits of the network compound as the application size grows large. 

Another use of a structure that enables code reuse was design time.
Ultimately, companies build up models of parts, each unit representing
an implementation stored in code modules. At coding time, the developer
can as promptly import the code module into the application. When
another application needs the same functionality, the designer can
quickly import its module from the library.

The C4 model

The
C4 model made by Simon Brown designates on UML and the 4+1
architectural view model. It breaks down software into smaller units for
modeling. Like the quick methodology, the C4 model requires fast,
efficient sharing and constant updates of software architecture in
software development.

The
C4 model (shown as a map). The Maps can build on a different scale. By
changing scales, like for example; The town map with streets and
buildings. Having the C4 model changes the level of a diagram to
describe software architecture. Using the abstraction-first approach, C4
conducts modeling top-down from system context to lower levels.

• Person (Element) – users or roles of a software system
• Software
  system (topmost level in abstractions) – the value of existing systems
  or systems under development and the interaction between those systems
• Container
  (Element) – the internals of software systems, usually applications or
  solutions for data storage. A different concept to containers in Docker.
  It mainly refers to software that is single deployed.
• Component (Abstraction element) – The containers of modules or a set of interfaces grouped as a functional unit.
• Relations – dependencies or data flow between abstraction elements.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello
blog (mood-status: feeling Good), writing this blog after thanksgiving
dinner and eating well like pretty good with a plate of food alongside
hanging the family. But anyway, on writing about this week-11. To be
truthful here, I writing this because I am falling behind on blogs when
there is nothing to talk about, besides kept being busy with other
courses like HWs and projects, etc. (You get the point. Well, if you are
a student) 

I decided to go on the Syllabus to look at the course topics.

I found the subject of Modeling along with Unified Modeling Language (UML) & C4 Model.

Unified Modeling Language

Large
Companies’ applications that execute core business applications and
keep a company going can more than some code modules. It can structure
in a way that enables:

• scalability
• security 
• robust execution under stressful conditions. 

Their structure is that maintenance programmers can find and fix a bug
that shows up after moving on to other projects. These programs can
design to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is
not the only one. A well-designed architecture benefits any program, and
not only the largest ones as singled out. It mentioned large
applications first because the structure deals with complexity, so the
benefits of the network compound as the application size grows large. 

Another use of a structure that enables code reuse was design time.
Ultimately, companies build up models of parts, each unit representing
an implementation stored in code modules. At coding time, the developer
can as promptly import the code module into the application. When
another application needs the same functionality, the designer can
quickly import its module from the library.

The C4 model

The
C4 model made by Simon Brown designates on UML and the 4+1
architectural view model. It breaks down software into smaller units for
modeling. Like the quick methodology, the C4 model requires fast,
efficient sharing and constant updates of software architecture in
software development.

The
C4 model (shown as a map). The Maps can build on a different scale. By
changing scales, like for example; The town map with streets and
buildings. Having the C4 model changes the level of a diagram to
describe software architecture. Using the abstraction-first approach, C4
conducts modeling top-down from system context to lower levels.

• Person (Element) – users or roles of a software system
• Software
  system (topmost level in abstractions) – the value of existing systems
  or systems under development and the interaction between those systems
• Container
  (Element) – the internals of software systems, usually applications or
  solutions for data storage. A different concept to containers in Docker.
  It mainly refers to software that is single deployed.
• Component (Abstraction element) – The containers of modules or a set of interfaces grouped as a functional unit.
• Relations – dependencies or data flow between abstraction elements.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello
blog (mood-status: feeling Good), writing this blog after thanksgiving
dinner and eating well like pretty good with a plate of food alongside
hanging the family. But anyway, on writing about this week-11. To be
truthful here, I writing this because I am falling behind on blogs when
there is nothing to talk about, besides kept being busy with other
courses like HWs and projects, etc. (You get the point. Well, if you are
a student) 

I decided to go on the Syllabus to look at the course topics.

I found the subject of Modeling along with Unified Modeling Language (UML) & C4 Model.

Unified Modeling Language

Large
Companies’ applications that execute core business applications and
keep a company going can more than some code modules. It can structure
in a way that enables:

• scalability
• security 
• robust execution under stressful conditions. 

Their structure is that maintenance programmers can find and fix a bug
that shows up after moving on to other projects. These programs can
design to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is
not the only one. A well-designed architecture benefits any program, and
not only the largest ones as singled out. It mentioned large
applications first because the structure deals with complexity, so the
benefits of the network compound as the application size grows large. 

Another use of a structure that enables code reuse was design time.
Ultimately, companies build up models of parts, each unit representing
an implementation stored in code modules. At coding time, the developer
can as promptly import the code module into the application. When
another application needs the same functionality, the designer can
quickly import its module from the library.

The C4 model

The
C4 model made by Simon Brown designates on UML and the 4+1
architectural view model. It breaks down software into smaller units for
modeling. Like the quick methodology, the C4 model requires fast,
efficient sharing and constant updates of software architecture in
software development.

The
C4 model (shown as a map). The Maps can build on a different scale. By
changing scales, like for example; The town map with streets and
buildings. Having the C4 model changes the level of a diagram to
describe software architecture. Using the abstraction-first approach, C4
conducts modeling top-down from system context to lower levels.

• Person (Element) – users or roles of a software system
• Software
  system (topmost level in abstractions) – the value of existing systems
  or systems under development and the interaction between those systems
• Container
  (Element) – the internals of software systems, usually applications or
  solutions for data storage. A different concept to containers in Docker.
  It mainly refers to software that is single deployed.
• Component (Abstraction element) – The containers of modules or a set of interfaces grouped as a functional unit.
• Relations – dependencies or data flow between abstraction elements.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello
blog (mood-status: feeling Good), writing this blog after thanksgiving
dinner and eating well like pretty good with a plate of food alongside
hanging the family. But anyway, on writing about this week-11. To be
truthful here, I writing this because I am falling behind on blogs when
there is nothing to talk about, besides kept being busy with other
courses like HWs and projects, etc. (You get the point. Well, if you are
a student) 

I decided to go on the Syllabus to look at the course topics.

I found the subject of Modeling along with Unified Modeling Language (UML) & C4 Model.

Unified Modeling Language

Large
Companies’ applications that execute core business applications and
keep a company going can more than some code modules. It can structure
in a way that enables:

• scalability
• security 
• robust execution under stressful conditions. 

Their structure is that maintenance programmers can find and fix a bug
that shows up after moving on to other projects. These programs can
design to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is
not the only one. A well-designed architecture benefits any program, and
not only the largest ones as singled out. It mentioned large
applications first because the structure deals with complexity, so the
benefits of the network compound as the application size grows large. 

Another use of a structure that enables code reuse was design time.
Ultimately, companies build up models of parts, each unit representing
an implementation stored in code modules. At coding time, the developer
can as promptly import the code module into the application. When
another application needs the same functionality, the designer can
quickly import its module from the library.

The C4 model

The
C4 model made by Simon Brown designates on UML and the 4+1
architectural view model. It breaks down software into smaller units for
modeling. Like the quick methodology, the C4 model requires fast,
efficient sharing and constant updates of software architecture in
software development.

The
C4 model (shown as a map). The Maps can build on a different scale. By
changing scales, like for example; The town map with streets and
buildings. Having the C4 model changes the level of a diagram to
describe software architecture. Using the abstraction-first approach, C4
conducts modeling top-down from system context to lower levels.

• Person (Element) – users or roles of a software system
• Software
  system (topmost level in abstractions) – the value of existing systems
  or systems under development and the interaction between those systems
• Container
  (Element) – the internals of software systems, usually applications or
  solutions for data storage. A different concept to containers in Docker.
  It mainly refers to software that is single deployed.
• Component (Abstraction element) – The containers of modules or a set of interfaces grouped as a functional unit.
• Relations – dependencies or data flow between abstraction elements.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.