Gergely Orosz · 10 min read · Product Strategy
Building resilient systems with Sam Newman
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Sam Newman, author of 'Building Microservices,' joins the Pragmatic Engineer podcast to discuss microservices architecture, distributed systems, and his new book 'Building Resilient Distributed Systems.' He shares insights on when microservices are appropriate, the importance of observability, and how AI is changing software development. Newman also reflects on his career journey, from being in the room when 'microservices' was coined to his 15 years as an independent consultant.
Key Takeaways
- Sam Newman considers microservices an architecture of 'last resort,' emphasizing that independent deployability is the clearest defining characteristic of a true microservice.
- The term 'microservices' was coined at an architecture symposium in the Lake District around the early 2010s, with James Lewis and Martin Fowler later formalizing the concept in a March 2014 article.
- Observability is essential for distributed systems, and business context must inform decisions on whether to fail open or fail closed when errors occur.
- AI is introducing new challenges like cognitive debt and cognitive surrender, but modular architecture can help teams experiment with AI while maintaining system understanding.
- Newman spent 18 months teaching Google and Yahoo engineers automated testing practices, including demonstrating that functional tests for websites were possible using Selenium.
Excerpt
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