From 2d07ff1cfcfa470bc48d42a4df211866dd1c6d2b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julio Biason Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2019 09:31:08 -0300 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Book review: microservice patterns --- .../reviews/books/microservice-patterns.md | 63 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/reviews/books/microservice-patterns.md diff --git a/content/reviews/books/microservice-patterns.md b/content/reviews/books/microservice-patterns.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18e7828 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/microservice-patterns.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ ++++ +title = "Microservice Patterns, Chris Richardson" +date = 2019-10-09 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["books", "review", "microservices", "spring", "java"] ++++ + +[GoodReads summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34372564-microservice-patterns): +Microservice Patterns teaches enterprise developers and architects how to +build applications with the microservice architecture. Rather than simply +advocating for the use the microservice architecture, this clearly-written +guide takes a balanced, pragmatic approach. You'll discover that the +microservice architecture is not a silver bullet and has both benefits and +drawbacks. Along the way, you'll learn a pattern language that will enable you +to solve the issues that arise when using the microservice architecture. This +book also teaches you how to refactor a monolithic application to a +microservice architecture. + + + +{{ stars(stars=1) }} + +I have a rule: The "badness" of a book is directly proportional to the number +of "as follows" the author uses in it. + +And, oh boy, do they use "as follows" in this book (no, seriously). + +The first 1/4 of the book is pretty good, showing patterns and giving +explanations about it. The rest of the book is strongly focused on external +frameworks and libraries and has almost no patterns discussion at all -- for +example, the second 1/4 is, basically, focused on the author's framework -- a +Java framework. . Also, the author seems strongly focused on Java code, even +after explaining that a microservice fleet can be written in lots of different +languages -- even listing some languages. + +There is a strong preference for Java and Spring on the book, to the point +that, when discussing a point, it shows a Spring module with a huge +explanation on what it does and another saying, simply, "another Java +framework". + +The code examples are also bad. It seems the author decided to use IntelliJ as +IDE and use its variable-name-generator (based on the class name) to create +the variable names. Classes names are really long on Java and, using the IDE, +the variables names also get really long, which by itself is not bad, +but in a book, it means the code will get formatted like any text and, thus, +get completely broken, and really hard to read. + +There are lots of images. And, as usual with a lot of images, 90% of +them are completely irrelevant, adding absolutely nothing of whatever was +described already. + +Those failures are extremely upsetting. You're getting a book about patterns +and end up with lots of pages of discussion and code -- badly formatted code +-- and very little pattern. Instead of explaining each pattern in depth, the +author decided to skip the whole thing and just show you how to use some +framework that already implements the pattern. That, by itself, isn't bad, but +without understanding what the pattern is, and what it is good for, you won't +know if it is a good idea to use it or not -- because patterns are ways to +describe your solution, not "ready made" solutions. + +Honestly, I can't recommend this book for anyone that is starting