Marco Lenzo

Newsletter

EP4: Time to reconsider open source?

This is the fourth episode of my newsletter where we discuss Software Architecture, Leadership and Beyond. In this episode, we will focus on recent events that should impact our perception of open source. At the end, you will also find a summary of all the content I released in the

API Security

The highest API Security Risk: Broken Authorization

Authorization is difficult to implement and test because it’s multi-dimensional and requires a deeper understanding of our APIs. In this article, I’ll explain how authorization is broken and what we can do to protect our systems.

AI Coding Assistants

Codeium: The best GitHub Copilot Free Alternative

This week I discovered Codeium: a very good alternative to GitHub Copilot. It’s free for individual developers. It’s very responsive and enterprises can also host it on their own infrastructure. Let me tell you more. You can also watch or listen the content of this article on YouTube.

Newsletter

EP3: Avoiding Burnout and Analysis Paralysis

I started writing this newsletter issue back in October 2023. Eventually I did not publish it because I needed to give myself some time to recharge the batteries and relieve the pressure that had been mounting during my first year creating content on YouTube at a regular cadence. Content creation,

API Security

Broken Authentication Explained | OWASP API2:2023

Despite many developers and teams feel confident about the security of their APIs, Broken Authentication is still one of the top API security risks according to the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP). In this article, we will understand why this issue is still so common and how we can

Software Architecture

The State Design Pattern Explained

The State Design Pattern is a behavioral design pattern that allows an object to change its behavior when its internal state changes. It was introduced in the famous “Gang of Four” book titled “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software“. By the end of this article, you will have a

Software Architecture

The Hexagonal Architecture Explained | Ports and Adapters Pattern

In this article, we explore the Hexagonal Architecture, as outlined by Alistair Cockburn in 2005, commonly referred to as the ports and adapters pattern. I will explain from a theoretical standpoint but also offer a concrete example that I’ve shared on GitHub. At the end, we will compare the

AI Coding Assistants

GitHub Copilot vs JetBrains AI Assistant vs Duet AI

This article complements “Beware of AI Coding Assistants” by giving more insight on the comparison I did between GitHub Copilot, JetBrains AI Assistant and Duet AI by Google. As I already mentioned in the other article and related video, I decided to create a subscription with GitHub Copilot because it’

AI Coding Assistants

Beware of AI Coding Assistants | GitHub Copilot vs JetBrains AI Assistant

This article is the transcription of my video on AI Coding Assistants. As promised, I compared the most popular AI-powered coding assistants powered. The plan was to create a test and show you the results at the end of the article. However, I noticed immediately that I had more important

DevSecOps

How to fix MicroK8s restart loop

If you have enabled the cis-hardening plugin in your microk8s cluster, you might experience instability issues, especially after a node restart. In this article, I will explain the cause of this issue and how to fix microk8s in this scenario. Symptoms Sometimes it is not obvious that we have an

Software Architecture

The Clean Architecture Explained

This article is a transcription of my video on the Clean Architecture by Robert C. Martin. It is part of a series of videos where we analyze some of the most popular architecture styles such as the Onion Architecture and the Hexagonal Architecture. Let’s get started! Clean Architecture Motivation

Software Architecture

The Onion Architecture explained

Whether you are a junior or senior developer, it can be difficult to understand what the hexagonal, clean, or onion architectures are. But, most importantly, it’s difficult to figure out how to use them when coding a real application. In this video, we will start by demystifying the concepts

Software Architecture

DDD Aggregates Explained

Are you building software that’s meant to last? If so, you need to understand the importance of DDD aggregates in your domain model. Aggregates are essential to build reliable, maintainable, and scalable software that stands the test of time. But why do so many developers overlook this crucial concept?

Software Architecture

Event Sourcing and CQRS Explained (Are they worth the hassle?)

Event Sourcing and CQRS are possibly the most fascinating architectural patterns in the software world, especially when combined with an event-driven architecture (EDA). In this article, we explain both patterns highlighting advantages and disadvantages of these approaches. In the conclusion, I will give you my personal opinion on whether these

DevSecOps

GitOps Explained: Is it worth it?

If you’re thinking of adopting GitOps or want to know more about it, this is the right article for you. I’ll explain it and show its benefits, but most importantly I’ll cover the drawbacks which are not mentioned by other videos or blogs. I’ll stick to

Software Architecture

Backend for Frontend Pattern Explained

In this article, I cover the “Backend for Frontend” pattern mentioned by Sam Newman in his “Building Microservices” book. You can also find the same content in video format on my YouTube channel. Introduction There are times when the typical general-purpose API backed by a microservice is not enough to

Software Architecture

The only Two Good Reasons for Microservices

Stop making microservices the goal of your architecture. There’s nothing more complex to build and operate than a distributed system. That’s why we really need to have good reasons to adopt a “microservices architecture”. If you search the web for advantages of microservices, you’ll find this list.

Newsletter

EP2: Inefficiencies of Software Development

Why is software development so slow and costly? There is always a stage during the lifetime of a software system where development efficiency decreases significantly. Everything feels slow and costly. Teams that previously delivered features within a couple of weeks start requesting months to complete newly prioritized features. Tension builds

Newsletter

EP1: The COP Theorem for Success (my answer to McKinsey)

McKinsey article on measuring individual software developer productivity ignited many souls in the software engineering world. This is my perspective as a long-standing software architect. If you haven’t heard yet about the McKinsey article “Yes, you can measure software developer productivity”, you must be living under a rock! In

Software Architecture

Domain-Driven Design Explained: Anemic Models

In this article, we explain the concept of anemic model which is extremely common in modern applications. We also try to identify why anemic models are so popular, as well as proposing solutions to mitigate this issue. What is an Anemic Model? A model is anemic when its objects have

Software Architecture

Domain Driven Design (DDD) Explained

Domain Driven Design (DDD) is one of the pillars of object oriented software development. You must understand it really well if you want to produce future proof code and designs. Despite it looks intimidating to most developers, the concepts of DDD are really straight-forward and to some extent based on

REST APIs Explained

In this article, we will explain what are REST APIs, also known are RESTful APIs, and how we can design them and implement them quickly. What is an API? First we need to define what an API is. An API is a contract between a provider and a user that

DevSecOps

Reduce the size of Docker images with few steps

One of the advantages of using Docker images is that they are portable. However, portability is directly related to the size. A mobile phone wouldn’t be really “mobile” if it weighed 10 Kg. The same applies to Docker images. We want our containers to be as slim as possible.

Kubernetes

Immutable Kubernetes Pods

Immutable Kubernetes Pods are absolutely necessary if you are deploying your applications in a containerized environments and you want them to be secure. Despite this, most developers and teams do not use immutable pods. In this tutorial, I will explain in a simple manner what they are and why they

Kubernetes

Install and Learn Kubernetes in 10 minutes

In this tutorial, I will show you how to install and learn the basics of Kubernetes in just 10 minutes. We will be using a super-lightweight certified distribution of Kubernetes: MicroK8s by Canonical. This distribution requires very little resources and can run on Linux, Windows and macOS. For the purpose