Retrospective XV

Last year, I conducted a simple retrospective for 2022. Therefore, here is a retrospective for 2023.

2023 Achievements

Complete fifteen year blog on agile software application to game development and beyond Enter Lil Evel Knievel in SMS Power! 2023 competition as side scrolling Wonderboy tribute Port Sega Master System games to Sega MegaDrive then document development process Apply Sega Master System development techniques to eBPF setup using C code examples Resurrect test driven development and mock integration into Linux / C environment setup Transition 8-bit Sega Master System development setup to the Nintendo Game Boy+Color Prepare Python environs for OpenAI retro video game Reinforcement Learning integration Experiment with SerenadeAI and prototype ChatGPT APIs across multiple language range Note: leveraging Sega Master System development setup for Nintendo Game Boy is an achievement!

2024 Objectives

Resume Microservices application development and deploy across Distributed Systems at scale Apply Infrastructure as Code and adopt DevOps best practices as software grows in complexity Extend Software Engineering experience across Design + Architectural responsibilities in Cloud Integrate Artificial Intelligence to Software projects: Machine, Deep or Reinforcement Learning

Architecture
Software architecture plays crucial role in designing + developing effective software systems. Understanding various architectural styles + patterns available, you can make informed decisions in architectural endeavors to create scalable, maintainable, and reliable software solutions. Architectural styles are high-level strategies that provide an abstract framework for a family of systems e.g. Layered, Event-Driven, and Microservices.


Architect Types
Software architects, solution architects and enterprise architects all play a part in designing, developing and implementing solutions that meet the needs of the business but differ with technical, company and IT focus:

Software  Architect	A professional who designs and oversees the development of each software system.  Ensures that the system meets the needs of the business and is technically feasible.
Solution  Architect	A professional who designs and implements solutions that meet needs of the business.  They have a deep understanding of both the business and the technology landscapes.
Enterprise  Architect	A professional who designs and oversees the overall IT architecture of an organization.  Ensures architecture aligned with business strategy and supports goals and objectives.

Cloud Variants
Cloud computing is becoming common for accessing data and using appliations in web-based environments. Growing demand for technology solutions in this area request need for cloud architects and cloud engineers:

Cloud  Architect	A professional who deploys cloud-based applications according to business specifications.  Architects focus work on the frameworks and infrastructure of cloud-based applications.
Cloud  Engineer	A professional who designs, creates and develops cloud-based systems and solutions.  Involved in building and testing technical requirements within all these cloud systems.

Microservices
Microservices have become a game-changer in the quickly changing technological landscape where flexibility, speed and scalability are crucial. Microservices architecture provides a more agile and effective substitute to conventional monolithic techniques and has seen rapidly increasing industry adoption in recent years.

Microservices align seamlessly with DevOps principles, fostering development and operations collaboration for continuous delivery and automation. Microservices architecture also aligns with containerization and orchestration tools like Kubernetes, simplifying the deployment and management of services at scale.

Industry predictions in Microservices expect growth to $1.7b by 2028 as 82% of organizations plan to adopt microservices in the next 3yrs. Microservices are well-suited to leverage emerging technologies such as IoT, edge computing, and blockchain and A.I. has potential to disrupt and innovate in the microservices space.


Future
The Top Tech Skills for 2024 corroborates this as specialization in the cloud computing market is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 18% plus Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning continue to drive innovations across all industries including using AI in Microservices; AI is becoming an essential part of the microservices ecosystem, enabling businesses to build and maintain large, complex applications more efficiently. It will be interesting to see new innovative ways in which AI may integrate across the Software Engineering spectrum!