An Appeal for Minimalism in Software Development

We are going to look at ways we can apply minimalism in modern software development. This is an era of buzzwords and FOMO -- everyone wants to jump on every train leaving the station. It might be important, at last, to seat back and question our practices.

This will be mostly philosophical but whenever I will give example, I will use Node.js/Javascript stack in most of my examples but this lessons can be applied in almost any stack.

Transcript

1. An Appeal for Minimalism in Software Development Anthony Nandaa @profnandaa Eng. Manager, Andela #AndelaWorkshops | Aug, 2018
2. Intro • Sorry, no black screens today - more of a discussion and reflection • The talk will be minimalistic too coz what’s the point? :) • Content: ◦ The Age of Packages ◦ Is the tool using you? ◦ Easy != Simple ◦ The Cost of Minimalism ◦ Less is Best ◦ Recommendations
3. Minimalism Definition /ˈmɪnɪməˌlɪz(ə)m/ “deliberate lack of decoration or adornment in style or design.” - Google Search
4. Minimalism in Life • Have you applied it? • Has it beneficial?
5. Minimalism in UX/Design
6. Questions • Have you ever built something that was never used? • Consider your favourite framework. How much of it do you actually use?
7. Is the tool using you?
8. Is the tool using you? • Accidental complexity: Complexity arising from the solution rather than the problem we are solving • We spend a huge amount of our time in making the tools work, than the actual solving of our problem. • Delicate balance => building for potential future needs vs. the actual needs
9. Is the tool using you? “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” - Abraham Maslow • Framework Driven Development (FDD)! • Is the tool dictating what you should build? • Forcing the solution to fit into the problem you are solving.
10. The Age of Packages
11. The Age of Packages • Take some time and peek through the dependencies you are installing • Go for minimalistic frameworks and plug in packages as needed (plugin-based architecture) • Beware, the size is not always proportional to what those modules actually do. • Profile, profile, profile!
12. Easy ≠ Simple
13. Easy ≠ Simple • Don’t mistake ease for simplicity • Some frameworks may give you a quick and easy start but in the long run come biting with maintenance overheads
14. The Cost of Minimalism
15. The Cost of Minimalism “I'm sorry I wrote you such a long letter; I didn't have time to write a short one.” - Blaise Pascal • Simple ≠ Easy • You will need to dig deep into the frameworks/libraries you use to notice how much of it you don’t need • DIY is tough with it’s own cons!
16. Less is Best
17. Less is Best If you are building for longevity then going minimal is best! • You have better control of the software you are building • Easy maintenance / flexibility • No framework lock-in
18. Node.js / JS Recommendations
19. Node.js / JS Recommendations • Hapi.js - micro-framework for building HTTP servers • Knex.js - SQL query builder • Tools for optimizing dependencies: ◦ const-of-modules - find out which dependency is slowing you down ◦ npm.avanka.com - visualize dependency tree of packages ◦ npm-consider - check package size, licenses and impact on your package before installing it ◦ depcheck - analyze your dependencies (which ones are in use, etc) ◦ import-cost extension for VS Code, etc.
20. In Conclusion
21. Summary • The Age of Packages • Is the tool using you? • Easy != Simple • The Cost of Minimalism • Less is Best • Recommendations