Kirk Knoernschild

Software Developer & Mentor

Kirk Knoernschild
 

Kirk is software developer with a passion for building great software. He takes a keen interest in design, architecture, application development platforms, agile development, and the IT industry in general, especially as it relates to software development. His recent book, Java Application Architecture was published in 2012, and presents 18 patterns that help you design modular software.

Presentations

Modularity, Microservices, and Modern Architectural Paradigms

Monday, 9:00 AM EST

New architectural paradigms are emerging that challenge traditional assumptions about the way that scalable and adaptable software is built. At the heart of these paradigms is a modular approach that breaks apart the monolithic application. But breaking apart the monolith has implications beyond software architecture and never before has architecture, infrastructure, and methodology been linked in a way that demands a new approach to software development.

In this workshop, we will explore modularity’s role in a large scale software technology agnostic architecture. We’ll compare and contrast different implementation technologies, including Dropwizard and OSGi, for building modular architectures. And we’ll discover the impact that modern architecture has on infrastructure and methodology. Throughout the discussion, we will examine how modern web and mobile apps fit into this overall architectural story. This session is a workshop and hands on labs are available, so bring your laptop if you’d like to perform the exercises.

Principles of Agile Architecture

Tuesday, 8:30 AM EST

Traditional approaches to software architecture are broken. Attempts to define the architectural vision for a system early in the development lifecycle do not work. In today’s volatile technology and business climate, big architecture up front is not sustainable. In this session, we will explore several principles that help us create more flexible and adaptable software systems. But first, we’ll expose the true essence of what’s meant when we say “architectural agility.”

What’s the goal of architecture? To serve as a blueprint of the system that everyone understands? Possess the flexibility to evolve as new requirements emerge? To satisfy the architectural qualities, including performance, security, availability, reliability, and scalability? Yes. Yes. Yes. At the heart of these three questions are the three pillars of architecture - social, process, and structure. But how do we create software architectures that achieves all of these goals? And how do we ensure no disconnect occurs between developers responsible for implementation and architects responsible for the vision? In this session, we’ll explore several principles to increase architectural agility and provide some actionable advice that will help you get started immediately.

Modular Architecture - Refactoring the Monolith

Tuesday, 10:30 AM EST

Microservices are all the rage. But this isn’t a session on microservices. It’s a session on modularity. At the end of the day, microservices are just one way to the increase modularity of our software system. But there are others.

In this session we’ll refactor a monolith using patterns of modular architecture. In the end, you’ll see how the underlying set of principles used to modularize the monolith are virtually identical to the benefits of a microservice architecture, albeit manifest in a different way. Once modularized, you’ll also be amazed at how much architectural agility we have in our ability to now shift between different approaches to modularity, including microservices.

Modularity, Microservices, and Modern Architectures

Tuesday, 1:30 PM EST

New architectural paradigms are emerging that challenge traditional assumptions about the way that scalable and adaptable software is built. At the heart of these paradigms is a modular approach that breaks apart the monolithic application into microservices. But breaking apart the monolith has implications beyond software architecture and microservices are just one implementation alternative.

In this session, we will explore modularity’s fundamental role in a large scale software architecture. We’ll compare and contrast different implementation technologies for building modular architectures. And we’ll discover the impact that modern architecture has on infrastructure and methodology. Finally, we will examine how modern web and mobile apps fit into this overall architectural story.

Java Micro Frameworks for Microservices

Tuesday, 3:15 PM EST

Microservice architecture is a modern architectural approach that focuses on breaking apart the monolith and building modular services. But the framework we use has a tremendous impact on how we build and deploy services. A new type of framework has emerged that provides a lightweight stack for building microservices.

In this session, we will explore some modern Java micro frameworks for building microservices. Example frameworks you may see include Dropwizard, Spark, Ninja, RestExpress, Play, Restlet, and RestX.

Building Software with a Plugin Architecture

Tuesday, 5:00 PM EST

We've been building Java applications the same way for the greater part of a decade. But these monolithic applications have shortcomings that prevent us from increasing development agility and architectural flexibility. In this session, we'll build a simple system with a plugin and demonstrate it's advantages across the full software development lifecycle.

Are you familar with the Open Closed Principle (OCP) that states “software should be open for extension but closed to modification.” If so, then you know that OCP is a class design principle. But what happens when we extend the definition of OCP and start applying the idea at an architectural level? The answer is that we realize a positive impact on development team structure, software builds, and runtime flexibility. In this session, we'll build a simple system with a plugin architecture and demonstrate how OCP applied at an architectural level opens a new world of possibilities.

Books

Java Application Architecture: Modularity Patterns with Examples Using OSGi (Robert C. Martin Series)

by Kirk Knoernschild

Java Application Architecture: Modularity Patterns with Examples Using OSGi (Robert C. Martin Series)
  • “I’m dancing! By god I’m dancing on the walls. I’m dancing on the ceiling. I’m ecstatic. I’m overjoyed. I’m really, really pleased.”

    –From the Foreword by Robert C. Martin (a.k.a. Uncle Bob)

     

    This isn’t the first book on Java application architecture. No doubt it won’t be the last. But rest assured, this title is different. The way we develop Java applications is about to change, and this title explores the new way of Java application architecture.

     

    Over the past several years, module frameworks have been gaining traction on the Java platform, and upcoming versions of Java will include a module system that allows you to leverage the power of modularity to build more resilient and flexible software systems. Modularity isn’t a new concept. But modularity will change the way we develop Java applications, and you’ll only be able to realize the benefits if you understand how to design more modular software systems.

     

    Java Application Architecture will help you

     

    • Design modular software that is extensible, reusable, maintainable, and adaptable
    • Design modular software today, in anticipation of future platform support for modularity
    • Break large software systems into a flexible composite of collaborating modules
    • Understand where to place your architectural focus
    • Migrate large-scale monolithic applications to applications with a modular architecture
    • Articulate the advantages of modular software to your team

     

    Java Application Architecture lays the foundation you’ll need to incorporate modular design thinking into your development initiatives. Before it walks you through eighteen patterns that will help you architect modular software, it lays a solid foundation that shows you why modularity is a critical weapon in your arsenal of design tools. Throughout, you’ll find examples that illustrate the concepts. By designing modular applications today, you are positioning yourself for the platform and architecture of tomorrow. That’s why Uncle Bob is dancing.