Serverless architecture is the future of web development
Does the current trend towards serverless architecture give us an insight into the future of web development? Will this make it faster, cheaper, more reliable and less error-prone?
Complex web applications that have established themselves on the market require years of maintenance and updates. According to industry information, continuous development after the initial productive start causes up to 80 percent of the total costs in the life cycle of an application. What influence could the serverless architecture have at this point? Can it save companies and developers from creating a “legacy monster”?
From the past to the serverless future
Before we dive into the future of web development, let’s take a quick look at its history. How did the current trends in web development come about?
Since the birth of the Internet, a trend has continued unabated: Each new technology generation is accompanied by a simplification and acceleration of web development. In addition, an increasingly component-oriented approach can be observed. “The wheel doesn’t have to be reinvented”. That is the most important motto. Rather, it makes sense to improve the efficiency and functionality of what has already been created, tested and successfully used in the production environment.
Does another industry exist that has undergone a comparable development and can give us an insight into possible future scenarios of a digitized world? I am of the opinion that mechanical engineering can be used at this point. This is where the motto “don’t reinvent the wheel” has its origin.
In this article I will try to show parallels in the development of both areas (mechanical engineering and software). This may help us find the answers to all the questions asked at the beginning of this article. It should also help us understand why serverless architecture is the future of web development.
Relationship between mechanical engineering and the serverless future
With the invention of the worm pump, Archimedes set the first standards in mechanical engineering. The Archimedes’ screw is still used today to move matter and transmit power. In the course of time, technical components such as gears, belts and rods have also been standardized. These differ only in size and material, not in form and function.
The result was inexpensive components that have proven themselves in various combinations. This has also reduced the effort for maintenance and other work to be carried out. In addition, it is clear to every other technician how individual components are to be replaced if necessary.
Today, new machines are made almost exclusively from standardized individual parts. This is comparable to a kind of “Lego for advanced users”. In fact, Lego is a simplified version of Meccano — a model building system developed by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, UK, in 1898. Meccano kits consist of universally usable sheet metal strips, plates, angle supports, wheels, axles and gears as well as plastic parts that are connected to one another by nuts and bolts. Plans show how the standardized parts can be put together to construct models of cars, trains, airplanes, buildings, bridges and numerous other things — just like in real mechanical engineering.
The use of individually manufactured components always involves risks. Production costs are higher and maintenance is more complex. For these reasons, special designs in mechanical engineering are only realized if there is no getting around them. Decisive scenarios are, for example:
- Implementation with standardized parts is definitely not possible.
- The custom-made product offers considerable added value.
- The added value is appropriately remunerated by the customer.
Software engineering: There is also a trend towards the standardization of components
Compared to the history of mechanical engineering, the areas of software engineering and web development are still in their infancy. Protocol and component standards are still relatively new. At best, they have existed for a few decades. However, they are usually much younger. Are mechanics and software technology comparable despite the strongly differing evolutionary stages?
Mechanical engineering enables the movement of matter and the transmission of forces. Software engineering, on the other hand, transports information and ideas. But are standardized components already used in software development in order to develop products (as in mechanical engineering) faster and more cost-effectively? I look back on dozens, if not hundreds, of projects in my career. From this experience I can say: There are definitely tendencies towards standardization in the software area.
An example: In the world of Java Enterprise, each organization developed its own components and frameworks independently of one another (parsing protocol requests). These were later converted into Servlets API, which led to a standardization of the production components. Finally, the Spring Framework was itroduced, which is based on Servlets API and reduces complexity. In the Spring Framework, components are not completely redeveloped. Rather, standardized modules are available that only have to be configured.
In the past, it could take months to implement a web application. The creation of individual processing of web protocols was particularly complex. The same was true for the Servlet API. The completion of the web frameworks also took several weeks.
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