Introduction to Modern Application Development

To begin, this blog will provide an overview of the current state of application development. Starting with cloud-native architecture, we'll look at how to implement '7 building pieces' of this approach: cloud-native Architecture, AI, integration, Data, software delivery; operations; and security.

Each phase will identify and explain the 'building block,' as well as how the current application development strategy employs the 'building blocks,' resulting in more robust apps.

What is Modern Application Development?

With cloud-native designs, loosely linked microservices, managed databases, artificial intelligence (AI), DevOps support, and monitoring built-in, modern application development is a method that allows you to innovate quickly.

Because of this, current apps are built on cloud-native architectures, which boost developer productivity using DevOps principles by packaging and distributing code and dependencies as microservices.

CI/CD (continuous integration and delivery) technologies and methods have since been implemented in modern applications to improve system reliability. Modern apps use automation to identify and swiftly resolve issues by using best practices like infrastructure as code and boosting data security with threat detection and protection.

By leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to decrease manual activities, speed up workflows, and introduce low code application development tools, current apps are able to develop more quickly than ever before.

Modern application development's building blocks

1. Cloud-Native Architecture

In a cloud-native architecture, new ideas may be implemented more frequently, and you can respond to changing needs more quickly. Increase architectural portability to deploy applications across environments with little or no modification by packaging application code and dependencies in containers and deploying them as microservices. It is easier to make changes to specific components than the entire system.

Container management at scale is made easier with Kubernetes. Using DevOps techniques and tools to automate microservice build, test, and delivery will speed up releases and increase operational scalability.

2. User Interface and Application Logic Enabled by AI

AI should be incorporated into both the user interface and business logic application layers in order to improve user experiences and gain deeper insights into the business. Add translation, chatbots, and speech for AI-enabled user interfaces to engage worldwide audiences. Artificial intelligence may be used to improve business logic in a wide range of areas such as search and personalization.

AI models for speech, vision, language and decision-making are prebuilt and customizable for developers of all skill levels, allowing them to simply add AI features to their products.

3. Integrations Using Pre-Built Connectors and Managing APIs

Your ability to access data quickly and keep your various systems updated in real-time is facilitated by modern connections employing out-of-the-box connectors or APIs. Apps, systems, and data can be easily connected to each other via connectors, which are pre-built integrations.

Lightweight APIs can be used to integrate with REST and OAuth protocols. They remove the need for a bulky message bus in data retrieval and sharing across services. A gateway with hybrid capabilities can be used to access APIs at the edge, on-premises, or in other clouds by exposing APIs that already exist in a business.

4. Fully Managed Databases

Create digital experiences that are responsive and personalized without having to deal with database infrastructure or security issues. Regardless of programming language or framework, fully managed, cloud-based databases offer unlimited scale, low-latency access to rich data, and enhanced data protection—all built-in. Consider your application habits while selecting data models, APIs, storage structures, and deployment options.

Support for business continuity and responsiveness to the changing environment is provided by databases that are constantly available and elastic. As a result, the total cost of ownership is reduced while operations meet a constant availability and latency goal.

5. DevOps-Based Software Delivery

For a rapidly changing industry, it is necessary to reduce release cycles while yet maintaining high levels of reliability and security. Continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) tools and techniques make it easier for you to plan, manage risk, adjust to new client needs faster, and increase the reliability of your system. The use of highly productive technologies, the automation of routine and time-consuming manual tasks, and the iteration of tiny increments through continuous testing and integration are all ways to release quickly, consistently, and reliably.

Set up automatic gates in the pipeline to allow applications to flow smoothly from one step to the next until they are made available to clients.

6. Increasing the Level of Automation in Operations

Automating as much as possible is essential in today's increasingly complicated world because it allows you to increase operational efficiency, detect problems before they negatively impact the customer experience, and swiftly address them when they do arise. Automated logging, scaling, and high availability are provided by fully managed platforms. Today's current approach to application development relies heavily on the availability of comprehensive telemetry, actionable alerts, and complete visibility into both apps and the underlying system.

Infrastructure as code and site reliability engineering (SRE) best practices can help you respond to issues quickly and minimize data loss by automating frequent audits and implementing best practices like infrastructure as code to your infrastructure.

7. Security Layers

It is essential for modern apps to have several layers of security across the code, delivery pipelines, app runtimes, and databases. To begin, give developers access to well-controlled development environments. When deploying apps to a target environment, employ automated tools to check for vulnerabilities and investigate dependencies in code repositories as part of the DevOps process. To protect the applications, the operations team has access to centralized policy enforcement through the use of enterprise secrets and policy management.

Security and threat protection are implemented in real-time with fully controlled compute and database services.