Innovation and exploration of Internet architecture in the new era

Author: Zen and the Art of Computer Programming

1 Introduction

In 1998, the Internet bubble burst. At this time, the Internet evolved from a simple telephone network to the largest online service platform in the world today. The Internet has become the de facto infrastructure and plays a vital role. But more and more problems are coming, such as data volume explosion, business surge, security issues, etc. These problems also pose challenges to the Internet system. So, how to build a more efficient and reliable system architecture to cope with increasingly complex scenarios? To this end, a series of innovative explorations have tried many methods and technologies, including microservices, event-driven architecture, cloud computing, container technology, blockchain, machine learning, etc. However, only by understanding the existing technical architecture and processes and conducting in-depth exploration and transformation based on actual application scenarios can we create a system architecture that is more suitable for user needs. This article will introduce some innovative research directions of Internet architecture in the new era, and give some specific plans and suggestions.

2. Background introduction

The term "new era" has become very popular in recent years, and is generally used to describe new stages of the development of the Internet and technology, such as the Internet financial era, mobile Internet, Internet of Things era, etc. in the past few years. For the Internet architecture, the "new era" seems to have brought a revolution. In the past ten years, the Internet architecture has experienced a development process from stand-alone to distributed, from simple to complex. Today, with the development of information technology, cloud computing, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other fields, the Internet architecture is constantly being updated. Different from the closed system architecture of the past, the Internet architecture is changing from a simple service architecture to a complex system architecture that can better meet user needs.
Innovation in Internet architecture is mainly divided into the following four aspects:

Architecture evolution: mainly the summary, analysis and prediction of the evolution of Internet architecture;
Service governance: mainly studies how to improve service quality, reduce costs, and improve service availability;
Data management: mainly studies how to make data storage more efficient, easier to retrieve and process;
Development model: Mainly studies the changes and evolution of Internet software development models.
The content covered in this article mainly focuses on the fourth aspect of development models, that is, the changes and evolution of software development models. Software development model refers to the methodology used by software engineers to design software products. It reflects the working habits, knowledge structure and professional qualities of software developers. With the development of the Internet, the original software development model is changing, and new software development models are gradually taking shape. The most representative ones are Agile Development and DevOps Development Operations. Agile development is a development method based on iteration, rapid feedback and dynamic planning, which is characterized by completing projects in a short period of time. DevOps is an expansion of the responsibilities of the server-side operations team (Operations team) under an agile development model. It controls the entire software life cycle, from product to production environment deployment and test automation, environment isolation and configuration management, performance monitoring and optimization.

3. Explanation of basic concepts and terms

Software development model: Software development model refers to the methodology used by software engineers to design software products. It reflects the working habits, knowledge structure and professionalism of software developers.
Agile development model: Agile development (Agile Development) is a development model based on iterative development and continuous integration (Continuous Integration). This model emphasizes that requirements analysis, design, development, testing and maintenance should be delivered more frequently than planned, so Agile development encourages customers to participate in development work, so customers can immediately see the feedback results and provide timely modifications to achieve the goal of excellence.
DevOps development model: DevOps is a link under agile development (Agile Development). The purpose is to realize the automated process of development and operation and maintenance, including configuration management, deployment management, test management, release management, etc., so that various roles in the entire software development process can be realized. All personnel can work closely together to achieve true agile development.

4. Explanation of core algorithm principles, specific operating steps and mathematical formulas

4.1 Agile development model

(1) What is the agile development model?

Concept definition: Agile Development (Agile Development) is a development model based on iterative development and continuous integration (Continuous Integration). This model emphasizes that requirements analysis, design, development, testing and maintenance should be delivered more frequently than planned, so agile Development encourages customers to participate in development work, so customers can immediately see the feedback results and provide timely modifications to achieve the goal of excellence. Agile development has four main values:

Individuals and interactions trump processes and tools
Working software is better than complete documentation
Customer collaboration trumps directive-driven planning
Responding to change rather than following a plan

(2) Why is the agile development model needed?

In order to better adapt to the market, reduce waste, save costs, and improve efficiency, the agile development model emerged as the times require. The agile development model drives software development through an iterative approach to provide functional updates as quickly as possible, reduce risks, improve software quality, and meet the needs of multiple users at the same time. Therefore, the agile development model can effectively respond to rapidly changing market demands.

(3) Characteristics of agile development model

The following introduces several characteristics of the agile development model:

Iterative development: The agile development model adopts an iterative development strategy. After each iteration, the new version will be tested and fed back, and it will be iterated again. Each iteration will have a goal or scope, and a certain mechanism will be used to ensure that it remains agile after the iteration is completed. Each iteration will contain a working software product.
Automated testing: During agile development, developers need to perform automated testing. Automated testing can perform unit testing on software components during the development process, or it can perform integration testing on the entire software. Testing can be automated to improve software quality and speed.
Continuous Integration (CI): Continuous integration is an ongoing process where each integration integrates everyone’s latest changes to the code base to ensure there are no bugs. If there are errors, they can be discovered and resolved immediately. Continuous integration is also a key element of agile development.
Requirement adjustment: In the agile development model, requirements will always change, and the agile development model should be able to adapt to this change. Adjustment of requirements can be achieved by introducing additional development resources, increasing communication channels, opening up decision-making rights, use case-driven development, etc.
Compact design: The agile development model requires software products to be able to iterate quickly, so compact design should be pursued during design to shorten the development cycle as much as possible.
Small team: The practice of agile development model is often completed by a small team, so the team structure should allow inexperienced people to participate to reduce confusion.
Simple and easy-to-understand design: The agile development model emphasizes that software design should be easy to understand, so that feedback can be quickly accepted and adjustments can be made quickly.
Dominant power: The agile development model gives developers dominant power, so developers should be encouraged to have centralized decision-making power and guide them to complete tasks.

(4) Advantages and Disadvantages of Agile Development Model

advantage

Short-term efficiency: Since the purpose of the agile development model is rapid development and delivery, it can achieve great success in the short term.
Adaptability: The agile development model can adapt to the needs of rapid market development, respond to market needs in a timely manner, and achieve good results.
Improve the process: Due to the principles of iterative development and continuous integration of the agile development model, the organization, processes, tools and methods in the development process can be significantly improved, and the efficiency and quality of development can be improved.
Pay more attention to software rather than documentation: Due to the insufficient value of documentation, in the agile development model, only focus on coding and not on document writing.
Rapid feedback: Due to the iterative development characteristics of the agile development model, feedback can be obtained quickly during the development process, which facilitates rapid adjustments.
Allow inexperienced people to participate: Since the agile development model has very low requirements on developers, it allows inexperienced people to participate, thereby increasing the developer's competency level.
Helps build new thinking: Agile development models can help developers think about problems in new ways, thereby improving problem-solving and innovation capabilities.

shortcoming

The number of iterations of development limits the complexity of the software. In the process of iterative development, developers need to spend a lot of time on design and development. Therefore, features completed at one stage may affect the development progress of other features.
The testing workload of each version is relatively large. Since all functions must be tested in each iteration, the testing workload is relatively large.
Testing takes more time. Because developers need to spend more time on testing, this increases the development cycle.
Additional hardware equipment and tools are also required. Developers need to purchase additional equipment or software to conduct testing.
The requirements for testers are higher. Testers need to understand the implementation logic and principles of the software in order to test the software.
More resources need to be spent on integration. The agile development model requires developers to spend more time and resources on integration, thus affecting the development progress.

(5) Practical methods of agile development model

The agile development model is a very effective development methodology that emphasizes iterative development, automated testing, continuous integration, demand adjustment and other work to be delivered more frequently than planned. Therefore, through a series of practical means and methods, the agile development model can be implemented and bring better benefits to the enterprise. Here are some practical methods:

Kanban work board: Agile development model encourages developers to break down work into different stages and assign them to different team members. On the Kanban work board, the progress and status of tasks can be displayed in real time, so that the work can be completed smoothly.
Topic prioritization: In the agile development model, all features of the product are sorted by importance and urgency, and then assigned to different development teams. This can better grasp the focus of work and avoid bottlenecks.
User story decomposition: The core idea of user story decomposition is to divide user needs into small and simple stories, and then refine the functional design based on these stories. This allows for a more accurate estimate of development effort and a clearer identification of development roadblocks.
Simple design principle: Although the goal of the agile development model is to deliver software quickly, its practical method requires that the design of the software be simple and easy to understand. Therefore, the use of complex design patterns or techniques should be avoided during the design process to improve the readability of the software.
Pay attention to continuous integration: In the agile development model, software needs to be delivered frequently. Therefore, continuous integration is the cornerstone of agile development. Through continuous integration, developers can achieve rapid feedback and discover problems in time for early correction.

4.2 DevOps development model

(1) What is the DevOps development model?

Concept definition: DevOps (Development and Operations) development and operations combination (abbreviated as DO) is an agile development method. It emphasizes communication and collaboration between developers and operators, promoting the cyclic process of software delivery and operation, thereby achieving automation and standardization. DevOps encourages development and operations to work together as a team to advance the software development and delivery process. Its core concept is: integration of development and operations, supporting developers, QA, testers, IT operation and maintenance personnel and other related personnel to cooperate, communicate, and jointly build and maintain software products.
The DevOps development model includes three pillars: Development, Testing, and Delivery & Deployment. Through collaborative work, the development process is automated, thereby speeding up software delivery and deployment and reducing the interference of human factors. In addition, adopting this development model can better meet user needs and achieve higher service quality.

(2) Why is the DevOps development model needed?

If Agile Development is a development method driven by short-term behavior, then the DevOps development model is a long-term development method. It emphasizes the two-way flow of software development and operations. Developers can negotiate on the software delivery method, delivery process and continuous improvement when submitting, building, testing and deploying code, and assist operators in operation and maintenance work. Through the DevOps development model, the comprehensive capabilities of developers, testers, and operators can be improved to improve software quality and delivery efficiency.

(3) Characteristics of DevOps development model

The following introduces several characteristics of the DevOps development model:

Automated development process: The DevOps development model encourages developers to improve development efficiency. The key to the DevOps development model is that by automating the development process, developers do not need to perform repetitive tasks manually again and again.
Cross-departmental collaboration: The DevOps development model encourages collaboration between developers and operations staff. It facilitates the cyclical process of development and operations by co-building and maintaining software products.
Integration testing: The DevOps development model promotes integration testing, which means developers can conduct integration testing throughout the software life cycle.
Automated release and deployment: DevOps development model encourages bootstrapping including automated build, testing and deployment. It provides standardized processes and specifications for software delivery and deployment, and can automatically deliver software.
Cloud-based automated operation and maintenance: The DevOps development model adopts a cloud-based automated operation and maintenance model, which can realize automatic software deployment, testing, operation and maintenance, and updates. Cloud services include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).
Automation of testing and release processes: The DevOps development model emphasizes automated testing and release to improve software quality and delivery efficiency.
High scalability: The high scalability of the DevOps development model enables software projects to adapt to the rapid development needs of the company or business.

(4) Advantages and disadvantages of DevOps development model

advantage

Shorten the software development cycle: The DevOps development model can shorten the software development cycle and improve the efficiency of software delivery.
Improve the communication efficiency between development and operations: The DevOps development model can improve the communication efficiency between development and operations, thereby reducing communication costs and improving the speed and quality of software delivery.
Reduce the interference of human factors: The DevOps development model can reduce personal differences in development and operations, reduce human pressure, and improve software quality and delivery efficiency.
Achieve automation and standardization: The DevOps development model can realize automated and standardized development processes and support multiple technologies, frameworks and programming languages.
Reduce operation and maintenance investment: The DevOps development model can reduce operation and maintenance investment and can effectively achieve better operational efficiency.

shortcoming

Overemphasis on automation leads to increased management difficulty: Overemphasis on automation and standardization may lead to increased management difficulty, especially the requirements for operation and maintenance personnel.
Platform dependencies can cause problems: Platform dependencies can cause instability and compatibility issues.
High requirements for technical abilities: The DevOps development model has high requirements for technical abilities, especially for software engineers.

(5) Practical methods of DevOps development model

The DevOp development model can be used as a set of practical means and methods to practice the DevOps development model. Here are some practical methods:

Continuous Delivery Pipeline: Continuous Delivery Pipeline is an important practice method of DevOps development model. In this pipeline, developers deploy the developed code directly to the production environment through continuous integration and testing.
Communication and collaboration: In the DevOps development model, there should always be good communication and collaboration between developers and operators. Collaboration is the cornerstone of the DevOps development model.
Code Reviews: Code review is an important practice in the DevOps development model. It is a process of communication and feedback designed to identify potential problems and make team members more knowledgeable about the software.
Continuous Improvement: In the DevOps development model, continuous improvement should be adhered to to promote the continuous improvement of software quality.
Test-driven development: TDD is a development methodology used in the early stages of the software development process. In the DevOps development model, test-driven development methods should also be practiced. TDD can improve the reliability and robustness of software.

5. Future development trends and challenges

This article briefly describes the new era of Internet architecture and related technologies, and provides two typical emerging Internet architecture models - microservices and event-driven architecture. Next, the author will elaborate on some advantages and disadvantages of the current Internet architecture and propose four main directions for innovation and exploration.

6. Appendix Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

(1) What is a software development model?
(2) What are the software development models?
(3) What are the characteristics of Agile Development?
(4) Why is the agile development model needed?
(5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the agile development model?
(6) What are the methods for implementing the agile development model?
(7) What is the DevOps development model?
(8) What are the advantages of the DevOps development model?
(9) What are the shortcomings of the DevOps development model?
(10) What are the methods for implementing the DevOps development model?
(11) What is the difference between agile development and DevOps development models?
(12) What is microservice architecture?
(13) What is event-driven architecture?
(14) What is the difference between microservice architecture and event-driven architecture?