Kirk Knoernschild

Presentations

Refactoring to Modularity

Monolithic applications are difficult to understand, maintain, and extend with new features and functionality. Modularity helps achieve these goals. Unfortunately, few applications have been designed with modularity in mind. In this workshop, we take a deep dive into modularity. We'll start by briefly examining the benefits of a modular architecture and exploring several patterns that help us design modular software. Then we'll launch into several exercises where we take an existing monolithic software system and refactor it to a modular architecture.

Along the way, we'll examine useful tools that help us along the journey and will demonstrate the benefits of our new architecture.

Turtles, Architecture, & Agility

A little old lady once challenged a well-known scientist’s explanation on the structure of the universe, countering that the world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise. The scientist rebutted the little old lady’s challenge with one of his own by asking what the tortoise was standing on. The little old lady’s sly reply was that it’s, “turtles all the way down.” So too is software architecture “turtles all the way down”.

In this session, we cover a broad range of topics that include challenging traditional practices of software architecture, examining what it takes to bring down the ivory tower, probing the paradoxical aspects of architecture’s goal, and investigating the inextricable link between temporal decisions and structural flexibility. From the highest level applications and services to the code that exists in the bowels of the system, and everything in between, we explore how an effective software architecture must be turtles all the way down. In the end, we will all have gained deep insight to the value of agile architecture.

Modular Java Architecture - TODAY!

Modularity is coming to the Java platform! Java 8 will introduce the Jigsaw module system. OSGi is here today. Don’t wait to start designing modular software. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a framework or a new runtime to start building modular software applications. You can start today. Learn how!

In this session, we'll examine what it means to develop modular software on the Java platform. We'll examine the goals and benefits of modular software, and explore the patterns of modular architecture that help us develop modular software systems. With just a few easy steps, we'll see how to transform our software from a huge monolith to an extensible system of collaborating software modules. By examining an existing software system, we'll see first hand how we can increase software modularity with minimal disruption. You'll walk away not just with a much deeper understanding of the benefits of modular software, but also a migration roadmap for refactoring existing applications to increase their modularity. In other words, you'll see how to get ready today for the application platform of tomorrow.

Patterns of Modular Architecture - Part 1

The modularity patterns provide us with proven design techniques to develop a modular software architecture that is extensible, reusable, maintainable, and adaptable. In this session, we’ll explore 9 of the 18 modularity patterns.

This session introduces and examines the following patterns:

• Manage Relationships
• Module Reuse
• Cohesive Modules
• Acyclic Relationships
• Levelize Modules
• Physical Layers
• Container Independence
• Independent Deployment
• Levelize Build

Patterns of Modular Architecture - Part 2

The modularity patterns provide us with proven design techniques to develop a modular software architecture that is extensible, reusable, maintainable, and adaptable. In this session, we’ll explore the remaining 9 modularity patterns.

This session introduces and examines the following patterns:

• Published Interface
• External Configuration
• Default Implementation
• Module Facade
• Abstract Modules
• Implementation Factory
• Separate Abstractions
• Colocate Exceptions
• Test Module