Our two guests, Jeanne Boyarsky and Adam Bien, are both long-time Java developers. On today’s episode, we talk about what consists of “good” architecture in the changing world of software development, and where exactly Java fits in to the puzzle.

Defining software architecture

Pinning down a solid definition of software architecture can be tricky these days. Our guest Jeanne Boyarsky agrees. ”Architecture feels a little like a vocabulary word because it means so many different things to different people. But to me, it feels like the high level, what-are-you-going-to-put-together so that things make sense. Similarly, you don't want every application you have to be different, that makes it hard to work on anything. Architecture also includes non-functional requirements. If my app works, but takes a year to get back to you, it's useless. So I think all those things together.” 

Timeless principles of quality software development

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or distracted by software trends, concepts, and developments, such as microservices, cloud-native, or serverless. But Adam and Jean say some key principles about what makes “good” software development will never “go out of fashion.”

• Stay flexible — Adam Bien says, “I think it is really important just to suggest things, and not to say, this is the absolute rule. Because nothing is absolute in software development, not even architecture, you always have exceptions. I think this is the most important thing.”

Adam’s final words of advice? “Just build stuff”. And he adds, half-jokingly, “And don’t forget how to code once you become an architect.”

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