There are a number of things that help make an application what it is—the most fundamental of which is the architecture it’s based on. To date, most technology has been built on monolithic architecture, with all components existing within one complex application. More recently, however, developers have started compartmentalising each component or service in a given application—making it a total sum of its individual parts. This new trend in application development is supported by service-oriented architecture (SOA) and microservices architecture (MSA), both of which operate on the core principle of breaking down an application into various self-contained functions. This means, for instance, that there can be an individual payment function, a supporting authentication service, and another component focused on maps. And as these units all function autonomously, developers can work more efficiently, focusing on one service at a time without disrupting the functionality of the application as a whole.
