APM and programming does not need to be that hard
We live in an information society where new advancements have consistently made the technological landscape an exciting one. And programming obviously plays a crucial role in making these new technologies possible.
Progamming, as contributor Joseph Ottinger points out, is about function and not form. He argues that it’s about accomplishing something, “not about conforming with a model of the real world.” It should be clear what you want your code to execute. If you were to explain how your favorite sports team is performing, you wouldn’t detail every play made in every game. You’d provide the highlights in a clear, succinct manner.
But the thing is, in order for consumers to enjoy all these shiny new toys, businesses really need to step up their game when it comes to application performance management.
The importance of the end-user experience cannot be stressed enough, yet it seems to be an area a lot of organizations need to improve on. As TheServerSide.com contributor Jason Tee puts it, “if a company builds its success on technology, software failure and application downtime can have far reaching consequences.” Actually, to be more specific, there are at least seven ways businesses suffer from application failure, varying from brand damage to a stock dip to loss of usage.
Oh, and of course we can’t forget about social media. In a world where there is immediate feedback, bad reviews in an app store can scare away new, potential customers. Besides, I’m sure we can all imagine how relentless social media can be.
It really comes down to an urgent need to develop a strategy for both improving and maintaining performance. Sometimes, I wonder why it isn’t as big as a priority to organizations as it should be. And I get it, this is one of those things where it’s easier said than done but it doesn’t necessarily have to be hard. For example, in the case of Web app performance, it can be as simple as embracing HTTP/2.
Maybe application performance is something I think needs to constantly be at the front and center. But one concept that has been gaining traction is containerization. Docker, in particular, has received a great deal of attention but could it be the next step beyond VM? Tee argues that it could “make the VM less of a virtual monster to wrestle with when it comes to resource management.”
What does it boil down to? Know what you want your application to do and code accordingly. From there, measure if it’s accomplishing what you intended for it to accomplish. Simple enough, right?