Structuring a large code base maintained by multiple teams working in parallel can be a real challenge. If you are not disciplined about code structure overtime you will end up with a tangled, unmaintainable mess that cannot adapt to change and risks ossifying into legacy. In this session Juergen will pull from his experiences working on large projects (including his role as chief architect of the Spring Framework) to provide general guidelines on:
- Packaging and package interdependencies
- Layering and module decomposition
- Evolving a large code base
Watch Code Organization Guidelines for Large Codebases (1hour 28 min)
Juergen's conclusions:
Update: The slides can be downloaded here.
- Packaging and package interdependencies
- Layering and module decomposition
- Evolving a large code base
Watch Code Organization Guidelines for Large Codebases (1hour 28 min)
Juergen's conclusions:
- The evolution of a large code base is a tricky challenge...in particular if backwards compatibility is an issue and architectural quality remains a goal!Much of the presentation was spent explaining how to minimize dependencies between modules (especially cyclic dependencies) and how Juergen manages Spring's codebase to tight standards of quality. Juergen also demonstrates how he uses JDepend and SonarJ on Spring's codebase, and near the end for fun does a package dependency comparison between Spring and Hibernate.
- Central issue: package interdependencies
- Avoid circular references between packages, at (nearly) any cost!
- Consider the use of tools for ongoing validation of your architecture
- e.g. JDepend, SonarJ
Update: The slides can be downloaded here.