3 ms·

I agree. Progamming languages give us so many ways to organize domains without increasing deployment complexity and rewrites like microservices do. I wonder why

I agree. Progamming languages give us so many ways to organize domains without increasing deployment complexity and rewrites like microservices do. I wonder why microservice components talk as if those approaches don't exist or aren't equally valid. There used to be this term called "refactoring" which has gone out of fashion.

cpitman 9y ago
Too many people would use the term "refactor" when they really mean "rewrite". As far as microservices, one benefit is that it makes blurring the lines between domains much harder. A mediocre developer can easily go into a well designed code base and make a mess of it quickly. In a microservice setup, their mess is mostly contained to one domain at a time.
- scarface74 9y ago
  I agree completely and I implemented a microservice like architecture for just that reason. My team consists of junior devs and contractors. I didn't want bad design to infect the system. But, I made sure we had an easy to use CI/Cd solution, orchestration and service discovery.
- Kalium 9y ago
  > Too many people would use the term "refactor" when they really mean "rewrite". I am a fan of "refactor from zero". Yes, you're right. People do often mean rewrite. I suspect that using "refactor" instead comes from working in environments where rewriting is seen as akin to proposing sacrificing babies to Satan, but refactoring is a daily event.
  - cormacrelf 9y ago
    There's still a distinction to be made. A rewrite usually means 'one day we will turn off this "legacy" system' and replace the whole thing at once', but a 'refactor from zero' can clearly involve running two systems at once for a while, slowly offloading functionality until you have replaced each part. The former is usually such a bad idea that it's worth clarifying that you're not doing it.

3 ms·

I agree. Progamming languages give us so many ways to organize domains without increasing deployment complexity and rewrites like microservices do. I wonder why

by FooBarWidget 9y ago

cpitman 9y ago
Too many people would use the term "refactor" when they really mean "rewrite". As far as microservices, one benefit is that it makes blurring the lines between domains much harder. A mediocre developer can easily go into a well designed code base and make a mess of it quickly. In a microservice setup, their mess is mostly contained to one domain at a time.
- scarface74 9y ago
  I agree completely and I implemented a microservice like architecture for just that reason. My team consists of junior devs and contractors. I didn't want bad design to infect the system. But, I made sure we had an easy to use CI/Cd solution, orchestration and service discovery.
- Kalium 9y ago
  > Too many people would use the term "refactor" when they really mean "rewrite". I am a fan of "refactor from zero". Yes, you're right. People do often mean rewrite. I suspect that using "refactor" instead comes from working in environments where rewriting is seen as akin to proposing sacrificing babies to Satan, but refactoring is a daily event.
  - cormacrelf 9y ago
    There's still a distinction to be made. A rewrite usually means 'one day we will turn off this "legacy" system' and replace the whole thing at once', but a 'refactor from zero' can clearly involve running two systems at once for a while, slowly offloading functionality until you have replaced each part. The former is usually such a bad idea that it's worth clarifying that you're not doing it.