Recently I was discussing whether to use JSON or XML as the data exchange format for a web service. I was surprised to hear that in today's environment my coworker wanted to use XML instead of JSON. As for myself, I pushed for JSON for a number of reasons.Now, back when I first started coding years ago, XML was just gaining in popularity. At the time, the flexibility provided by the data structure was something new and incredibly useful. Couple that with its ability to h

One thing I've had to do a lot over the years is deal with a Monolith . In some cases, it was not a bad experience; in others, it was pretty horrific. Often, monoliths aren't an intended outcome, but unless you take explicit actions to isolate functionality as the code grows, the code base will gradually grow into a Ball of Mud. A codebase starts out small and focused, but over time it grows organically as new user stories are added.  As these new user stories