Application Architecture: Page

What is a smart home? Everything you need to know

A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as lighting and heating.

By Paul Kirvan , Kinza Yasar , Sharon Shea • July 31, 2025

What is imperative programming?

Imperative programming is a software development paradigm where every step is implicitly coded to solve a problem.

By Gavin Wright • July 31, 2025

What Amazon Q prompt injection reveals about AI security

Experts say a malicious prompt injection in the Amazon Q extension for VS Code doesn't represent a fundamentally new threat, but reflects how AI amplifies security risks.

By Beth Pariseau • July 29, 2025

Static and dynamic code analysis: Complementary techniques

While every programmer wants to deliver high-performing, secure, bug-free and compliant code on the first try, that's not possible. Effective code analysis techniques will help.

By Gerie Owen , Tom Nolle • July 25, 2025

Insomnia vs. Postman: Comparing API management tools

Insomnia has a streamlined interface and focus. Postman has extensive features for end-to-end development. Choosing comes down to the team's needs and the project's complexity.

By Priyank Gupta • July 24, 2025

Replit AI agent snafu ‘shot across the bow’ for vibe coding

A rogue Replit coding agent deleted a production database during a vibe coding session -- and lied about it, according to one user.

By Beth Pariseau • July 22, 2025

Intuit’s Ashok Srivastava, on AI agents’ new frontier

Intuit's chief AI and data officer offers a peek behind the scenes of his company's AI agent development and its next phase of advancement.

By Beth Pariseau • July 22, 2025

Paylocity plans API design-first shift to modernize apps

A principal engineer says Postman's Spec Hub will help the company shift to a spec-first API development process for its event-driven microservices architecture.

By Beth Pariseau • July 17, 2025

AWS Kiro coding agents highlight spec-driven development

AWS Kiro, a project developed by a 'small, opinionated team within AWS,' prioritizes spec-driven development in the workflows of coding agents.

By Beth Pariseau • July 14, 2025

‘Docker Compose up’ now includes AI agents

Docker is expanding the Docker Compose spec to accommodate AI agents in an effort to bring AI development closer to existing software development workflows.

By Beth Pariseau • July 10, 2025

What is a natural user interface (NUI)?

A natural user interface (NUI) is an interface that's designed to feel as natural as possible to users as they interact with a computing system or application.

By Rahul Awati , Ben Lutkevich • July 10, 2025

What are BSD Licenses?

BSD licenses are a family of permissive open source licenses originally associated with the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a Unix-like operating system.

By Katie Terrell Hanna • July 10, 2025

Vibe coding with AI sparks debate, reshapes developer jobs

The 'vibe coding' catchphrase shows that GenAI is transforming software developer jobs -- but just how much change is coming? It depends on who you ask.

By Beth Pariseau • June 26, 2025

10 refactoring best practices: When and how to refactor code

Developers only have so much time available. Here's how to prioritize code refactoring to get the most value from the amount of effort expended.

By Stephen Bigelow • June 26, 2025

What are beans in Java and Spring?

In 1996, Sun Microsystems introduced its JavaBeans application programming interface for writing a Java component. Continuing with its coffee analogy, Sun called that component a bean.

By Scott Robinson • June 26, 2025

Google touts free tier for multimodal AI terminal

Google intends to differentiate Gemini CLI with multimodal support, including video, and an expansive free tier for individual users.

By Beth Pariseau • June 25, 2025

8 best practices for creating architecture decision records

An ADR is only as good as the record quality. Follow these best practices to establish a dependable ADR creation and maintenance process.

By Twain Taylor • June 20, 2025

How to choose coding standards: Development best practices

Learn how coding standards enhance quality and efficiency in software projects. Follow coding conventions and standards to achieve the five pillars of code quality.

By Damon Garn • June 10, 2025

Refactor vs. rewrite: Deciding how to fix problem software

At some point, all developers must decide whether to refactor code or rewrite it. Base this choice on factors such as architectural soundness, time, money and goals.

By Matt Heusser • June 10, 2025

Understanding API proxy vs. API gateway capabilities

API proxies and gateways help APIs talk to applications, but it can be tricky to understand vendor language around different tools' functionalities.

By Chris Tozzi • June 9, 2025

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a text file carrying some information that a website places on a user's computer.

By Rahul Awati , Sean Kerner • June 6, 2025

Technostress explained: What it is and how to avoid it

Employees are experiencing technostress as digital transformation accelerates, contributing to dissatisfaction in the workplace.

By Rosa Heaton • June 2, 2025

Why use Rust? Explore the benefits of Rust development

Rust continues a meteoric rise in popularity following a 2024 White House endorsement. But what are the benefits of Rust that make it such an alluring choice?

By Chris Tozzi • May 30, 2025

How to choose the best Markdown editor: A 9-tool comparison

A dedicated authoring tool helps writers take full advantage of Markdown. Find one that supports your development projects, documentation tasks or even daily writing objectives.

By Damon Garn • May 29, 2025

11 tools that facilitate developer productivity

Development teams have a better experience when they use tools that integrate well together and facilitate collaboration.

By Amy Reichert • May 29, 2025