Photo credit We continue building our microservices system by adding a coordination layer to handle spinning multiple services up and down. In previous blog posts, we grew from two Spring Boot applications to three applications + a database container. As we continue to scale and broaden our system, we will need something to coordinate service and ensure consistent communication (avoid human error). We will do this through docker-compose, an orchestration tool that manages containerized applications.

Photo credit This blog post is the fourth iteration in a series of posts about building microservices in Java. The initial post started with a single string message passed between two locally-running applications, and we are gradually adding services and functionality along the way. In this level 4 installment, we will add a new service that will manage book authors. It will call a database containing a data domain of books and retrieve authors and their information.

Photo credit My dad likes to say that cooking is another form of creativity - part art, part science - that produces something physical, edible, and enjoyable with the chef’s unique style. Programming can be similar (minus the edible part). To learn to cook, you can take classes or read books, but the best teacher is rolling up your sleeves and experimenting yourself. When should you choose this utensil or that?

Photo credit We are still in the beginning stages of building microservices with Java, but we have already seen how to send and receive communications between two Spring Boot applications. In the first blog post of this series, our two applications transmitted a message string of "Hello, World!". In the second blog post, we took it one step further by embedding a MongoDB database into our service1, added a data domain (books) with four pre-populated entries, and transmitted the Book information between the two applications.

Photo credit In my last blog post, we began building microservices in Java with two Spring Boot applications, passing a "Hello, World!" string from one application to the other. We focused on reduced complexity, minimum previous knowledge, and few components. Next, we can slowly add pieces that simulate microservices projects in the real world. One way to do this is by adding a data domain. Applications often model some scenario in the real world such as maintaining office building temperatures, finding connected devices on a network, or recommending a tv show.

Photo credit Microservices have been used and deployed in businesses and projects for awhile, and there is plenty of content available for architecting them into a system. For my next project, I want to dive into the world of microservices and begin building my own little virtual empire from different kinds of services to find out the complexities, best practices, power, and trouble that comes with them. I will share all my learnings along the way, as well.

Photo credit Earlier this year, I received a new work laptop with the recent Apple silicon chip (versus Intel chip). The new M1 has been critically examined with avid enthusiasm and criticism, so I wasn’t sure what my outcome would be. Thus far, it’s been positive, and I really haven’t noticed too much disruption in my work. Things have been faster, but I’m not sure whether to entirely attribute that new chip itself, or just the new machine, in general.

Photo credit *Updated Dec 16, 2021 I created a demo project a couple of years ago that included a lot of technical setup - containers, data import, queries, and such. I presented it for a conference or two, and while it was one of my favorite projects, it was a lot of preparation for the live demo. I recently rediscovered the project, and submitted it to a couple of conferences.

Photo credit You may have heard quite a bit of buzz around reactive programming or reactive principles in recent months or years. Some people say it is the future, while others prefer their existing monoliths. So what is all the fuss actually about? What is reactive? Is it beneficial? As with all things in life, it depends. :) Remember, that technical decisions are often large investments of time - resources to create it and/or maintain for lengths of time.