3 Software Architecture Antipatterns You’d Want to Avoid

Knowing how not to do things is the best way to avoid doing these kinds of things. So let’s deep dive into 3 architecture antipatterns we should avoid in our applications.

1. Vendor Lock-In

The “Vendor Lock-In” anti-pattern occurs when a software application becomes overly dependent on a particular vendor’s products, services, or technologies. This antipattern is very common in companies that are deeply related to a unique service provider.

We may face this problem if our application depends directly on a single Cloud, and it is difficult to change it, or, if we’re directly accessing an external service, changing it requires modifying multiple locations.

This antipattern causes some problems like:

1. Limited Flexibility: The software becomes tightly integrated with proprietary technologies or services, restricting the ability to adopt new technologies or switch to alternative vendors.
2. Increased Costs: Exiting a vendor relationship or migrating to a different technology stack can be costly, both in terms of time and financial resources.
3. Dependency Risks: Relying heavily on a single vendor introduces risks related to the vendor’s financial stability, support quality, and changes in product direction.

To avoid this antipattern, we can use an Anti-Corruption Layer(ACL) pattern to avoid accessing directly services that does not belong to our domain. Prefer using Open Standards, such as Kubernetes (K8s), Terraform, RESTful APIs, and standardized protocols.

2. Swiss Army Knife

This antipattern refers to a design flaw in software architecture where a single component or class is responsible for performing a wide range of tasks or functions, often beyond its intended scope. It violates the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP) and can result in tightly coupled systems with low cohesion.

This antipattern can cause some problems, such as:

1. Complexity: Having a single component responsible for multiple tasks leads to increased complexity.
2. Low Cohesion: Cohesion refers to the degree to which elements within a module or component belong together.
3. Tight Coupling: Components in the Swiss Army Knife antipattern tend to be tightly coupled, meaning they have strong dependencies on each other.
4. Difficulty in Testing: Testing becomes more challenging when a component has multiple responsibilities.

To avoid the Swiss Army Knife antipattern, we can divide the system into layers or modules with specific responsibilities. Domain-Driven Design (DDD) can indeed help to avoid this antipattern by providing clear guidelines and principles for designing modular, cohesive, and maintainable software systems.

3. Big Ball of Mud

In a Big Ball of Mud architecture, code tends to grow and evolve without proper design or planning, resulting in a tangled mess of interconnected components with no discernible architecture or separation of concerns.

Key characteristics of the Big Ball of Mud antipattern include:

1. Lack of Modularity: The system lacks clear module boundaries, and components are tightly coupled, making it difficult to understand and maintain the codebase.
2. Spaghetti Code: The codebase exhibits tangled dependencies, with modules referencing each other in complex and unpredictable ways.
3. Accumulation of Technical Debt: Due to the lack of design and architectural planning, technical debt accumulates rapidly.
4. Inconsistent Design: Different parts of the system may use disparate design patterns, coding styles, or architectural approaches, leading to inconsistencies and making the codebase harder to comprehend.

There are some techniques we can use to avoid these patterns, for example using design patterns to encapsulate common design problems and promote reusability and maintainability. Use Clear Architecture to provide an organized structure and outline relationships between components.

Conclusion

These are only some of the many antipatterns related to software architecture. When we are dealing with architecture, we should know how to do things, and also how to not do things, this is crucial to avoid going on the wrong path.

Do you know other antipatterns? Please, share here 😁