Articles

Contract Based Development

Contract-driven development is a software engineering approach where the development process is driven by the design and implementation of contracts between different components or modules in a software system. these contracts define the interfaces between different modules or components and the expectations or requirements that each module has of the other.

In contract-driven development, the design and implementation of contracts between components take priority over the implementation of the components themselves. The goal is to ensure that the components are designed to work together effectively, and that each component has a clear understanding of the requirements and constraints of the other components it interacts with.

the contract typically includes a set of preconditions, postconditions, and invariants that define the behavior of the module or component.

Preconditions define the assumptions that must be true before a module can be called,

Postconditions define the guarantees that are true after the module has completed, and

Invariants define the properties that must be true throughout the execution of the module.

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Expected Output by using contract-driven development: 1. allows team to work independently, 2. reduce amount of coordination needed between teams, 3. ensure reliability and maintainability of software system,

API-Driven Development

Back then

Traditionally, software development starts with creation of a user interface (UI) and then the back-end logic is built to support that UI. with API-driven development, however, the API is designed and developed first, and the UI is then built to consume those APIs.

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Back then: Built UI first then Backend Logic

Now

API-driven development, also known as API-first development, is a software development approach that prioritizes design and development of APIs as the foundation of a software system.

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Benefits: 1. Separation of concerns: by focusing on the API first, the development team can separate the front-end and back-end development. This means that different teams can work on each component independently, allowing for greater flexibility and faster development. 2. Reusability: APIs are designed to be consumed by multiple applications or services. By building the API first, it can be reused by different UIs or even third party applications. 3. Scalability: APIs can be scaled independently from the UI. This means that as the demand for the application grows, the API can be scaled up to handle the increased load without having to scale the UI as well. 4. Improved testing: By developing the API first, it is easier to test the back-end logic in isolation. This can result in more thorough testing and faster bug fixes.

API-driven development is becoming increasingly popular, especially with the rise of microservices architecture and cloud computing. It enables developers to build flexible, scalable, and reusable applications that can adapt to changing business needs.

references

"Contract-Driven Development for Web Services" by M. Fischer and G. Lausen. This paper discusses how contract-driven development can be applied to web services and provides some examples.

"An Overview of Contract-Driven Development" by P. Müller and W. Schäfer. This paper provides an overview of contract-driven development and discusses its benefits and drawbacks.

"Contract-Driven Development with Eiffel" by B. Meyer. This book discusses how contract-driven development can be implemented using the Eiffel programming language.

"Design by Contract" by B. Meyer. This book is considered the seminal work on contract-driven development and provides an in-depth explanation of the approach.

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwNgMDbr4gw&ab_channel=CantonCoders