Example Implementation

A REST API in Elixir

This document features a small example implementation of this architecture in Elixir. Elixir is a dynamically typed language leveraging the Erlang virtual machine.

I chose Elixir because of its simple but powerful syntax. I originally wanted to implement this in Ruby but I wanted clear examples of interfaces and Ruby doesn’t really have them. Thankfully, Elixir has protocols, which let me write the boundary descriptions using a high-level abstraction.

Note

Interfaces aren’t absolutely necessary.

You don’t really need interfaces to implement boundaries, the language-level abstractions make it easier to understand in its own terms. Since no boundary object is an actual, concrete implementation, it quickly becomes obvious that the boundary objects, and thus the service layer, act as a data model inside the system.

For Ruby and Python you could easily write a dummy abstract class with NoMethodImplementation exceptions being thrown left and right, in case of an unsatisfied boundary.

The Elixir implementation makes the use of the Spirit microframework for Elixir. Equivalent frameworks in other applications:

• Ruby: Sinatra, Cuba
• JavaScript: Express
• Go: net/http
• C#: ServiceStack
• Java: SparkJava

...and so on.

.
├── api
│   └── web_api.ex
├── entities
│   ├── author.ex
│   └── publication.ex
├── host
│   └── server.ex
├── interactors
│   ├── author_service.ex
│   └── publication_service.ex
└── service
    ├── protocols.ex
    ├── requests.ex
    └── responses.ex