Microservices? I’m not entirely sure what they are. The term seems to exist on all parts of the hype cycle simultaneously. It’s on the ascent of excitement, the descent of disillusionment, and the plateau of productivity for different people, simultaneously. Some folks know exactly what it means, others know entirely nothing about what it means. Weirdness ensues. People talk past each other.
It’s a mess. Grumpy old man mode is in full force. (FWIW, I am the grumpy old man in this metaphor. I can not speak to the stature of Fowler or Feathers at this time.)
If I’m pessimistic, I nod along with Michael Feathers. He’s on to something when he observes the use of microservices as a blunt weapon against failures of encapsulation. Microservices become SOLID principles using units of deployment and even teams as a barrier between concerns. I feel that’s rather draconian.
If I’m optimistic, I cite Martin Fowler. To his credit, Fowler is doing the best work sifting through the noise and sensibly organizing what microservices might, in fact, be about. They’re probably not distributed objects, if you do it right. But you should understand the details, lest you get swallowed by the novelty and forget to realize the benefits. Make sure you’re tall enough for the ride your operations team is about to endure.
I get the feeling that radical approaches to working with Rails and microservices are tilting at the same windmill. You won’t fix the human tendency to build complicated structures with more software. Employing more buckets, or smaller buckets, in which to put your software doesn’t solve it either. You need a human factor to jump in and say “Hey, this is complicated! It might even be essentially complex. Let’s manage that complexity.” If you’re actively managing complexity, microservices or monoliths, Rails way or your own way, microservices and decoupling are a lot more of a detail than a foundational principle.
