Hexagonal Architecture: What You Need To Know - Simple Explanation

[@drondiwe]

hate when I'm being asked like "have you heard of X architecture" and I never heard of it but it turns out that I was using it a lot and I just was asked about its fancy name

[@eitan71]

i know exactly what you mean. i've been using it for at least 12 years now, and never cared or bothered to know how it's called. same was with "Agile". the hi-tech world is full farts who wants to stamp their name in the industry...

[@rodrigoalencar2305]

I don know you but it seen to me that is only apply plugin pattern time and time again but with different names, onion, hexagonal etc...

[@MichaelCampbell01]

This was great. Of note though, hexagons can still exist in a monolith - the "independently deployed" thing is more a µservice worry than HexArch, although HexArch is common way to do µservices.

[@tim_abell]

Thanks for including the downsides [00:06:17] - think you nailed it there, basically it's over-engineering unless you have a damn good reason to use it, and frankly I think the terminology introduces more confusion instead of reducing it. Great explanation of what it is and the alleged benefits are.

[@alexhyettdev]

Thanks Tim!

[@danjelhysenaj4859]

Hands down this is the simplest explanation that I have ever seen. Excellent Presentation Alex!

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you!!

[@PaulSebastianM]

Great video. For me Clean Architecture and Hexagonal Architecture are just different ways to achieve the same thing: decoupling input and output and increasing feature cohesion. /subbed

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you! Yes they are both good options.

[@sylvereleipertz955]

That's 2 words for the same concept

[@jorisw_]

Simplest and clearest intro I've seen so far. And as with most of these patterns, in the end it's the labeling and metaphors that had obscured most of it or me, whilst the concept itself, once visualized, is simple and clear as day.

[@alexhyettdev]

That is awesome to hear. Yes there is so much jargon that make these concepts a lot harder to understand than they need to be.

[@jonathansilva3364]

Thank you for this simple explanation. I know there might be a lot more details to it, but you beautifully managed to remove the noise so the core concepts (ports and adapters) could shine. Thank you very much.

[@alexhyettdev]

You're very welcome! Thank you for commenting!

[@storm14k]

Glad I found this! I'd run across the "no interfaces for repositories" crowd and we'd adopted it at my last gig but in all of my personal work I prefered them for this exact reason. And I especially try to make the interface only have read/write or store/retrieve methods as much as possible to avoid business context dripping down into the repo code. It starts with repo method names that reflect business terminology to me. And for the past 5 years or so I've been bouncing back and forth about the input side as well. Seeing it all in this one pattern has given me some things to consider. Thanks. You have a new subscriber.

[@alexhyettdev]

Thanks for commenting!

[@roku_on_it]

I was trying to understand this concept for over 1 week. Things became clear when you quoted the founder saying calling a database is no different than calling/using an external service. I guess we could call it "Adapter Pattern everywhere". I think this subject is being told way more complicated than it actually is, but you kept it fairly simple. Nice explanation!

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you! Yes Adapter Pattern everywhere sums it up nicely.

[@prrs4809]

Same here man, cheers for that quick expain!

[@Trythrow]

It does not necessarily mean that every hexagon is a separate service running in a separate container. It could be modules within the same application working together if your application is monolithic. Otherwise, it will be a form of hexagonal microservice architecture.

[@saralightbourne]

from the perspective of an active learner, your channel is a treasure. thank you a lot, please don't stop doing what you're doing

[@alexhyettdev]

You’re welcome! I am glad you like my videos.

[@jhonsen9842]

Simply brilliant. Clear and concise. 1 Comment and 1 Like from my End.

[@justfair4181]

the best explanation found over here, youtube

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you!!

[@LongNguyen-t4c9o]

Very clear for a newbie as me. Thank you so much

[@alexhyettdev]

You're very welcome!

[@Tolmachovtv]

Nice short and clear explanation. Thanks!

[@maheshbeeravelli]

All your contents are good. But for the concept diagrams and animations there is fast switch between the screens even before I try to understand what's in the animation and causing to loose focus, a little improvisation to keep the animations in a corner while you are in the background or keep them bit longer for user to consume before switching screen. Just a suggestion and Thank you.

[@khalidelgazzar]

Great video. Watched it a while ago and I keep coming back for a refresher.

[@alexhyettdev]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@AniketJadhav-m2r]

You are Nutshell explainer. I appreciate your skills. Kudos to your Technical Perspective!

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you! I like that, maybe I should have nutshell explainer as my tagline!

[@danclarkeuk]

Great video - one of the clearest explanations I've seen! Nice work! 👍

[@alexhyettdev]

Thanks Dan! I am having fun creating the animations. I am enjoying your videos too!

[@danclarkeuk]

Thanks too. I'm finding editing KZbin videos way more fun than podcasts! 😂 But perhaps that's just because video editing is so new at the moment, so a lot to learn!

[@acupfb]

Great explanations, thank you! I also have the same understanding, recursive hexagons

[@alexhyettdev]

👍 thank you. I am gad you liked it.

[@Computerix]

Amazingly explained, thanks !

[@jhonjbautistab]

Me encanto el video, mil garcias por la explicación

[@alexhyettdev]

De nada, me alegro de que lo hayas disfrutado.

[@marceloleoncaceres6826]

Thanks for the video,

[@browski999]

Great explanation, but it'll be good to have sample code examples to reinforce this concept😊

[@gabrielnzete8913]

This is simply fantastic, many thanks sir

[@SpringframeworkGuru]

Hey Alex - Just found your channel and subscribed. Great content and really nice job on your production! Kudos from the founder of Spring Framework Guru!

[@alexhyettdev]

Awesome, thank you!

[@desouzafelipe]

High quality explanation, thank you and good job!

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed it!

[@sreescorner]

Thank you for the very clear explanation and intuitive presentation

[@alexhyettdev]

You’re welcome! I am glad it was easy to understand.

[@olliDeg]

Great video! I hope you keep going and get the recognition you deserve!

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you! 🤞

[@maryamrosetvgermany9259]

the name is changed to adapters and ports pattern

[@soheil_a]

Great, simple and clear explanation, keep it up!👍

[@alexhyettdev]

Thanks, will do!

[@GiPa98]

Thank you for the video!

[@andreacfromtheapp]

Simple. Direct. To the Point. Inforhative. Very well-done!!! Thanks :) EDIT: *checks cannel*. --> *subscribed*

[@farooqmss]

simply beautiful.

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you!

[@AzamMahdipour-j6b]

Super! Thank you, was really helpful.

[@alexhyettdev]

You're welcome!

[@josephgreene630]

Can you do some basic data structure to real world usage examples?

[@alexhyettdev]

Sure I will add that to my content list. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@СлавныйЛехаОбломов]

Since when trivial interfaces start to be called as "hexagonal architecture"?

[@abellix]

Thanks God someone else is saying that as well

[@adriankearns1005]

Since 2004, although the originator of this architectural style (Alistair Cockburn) renamed it to "Ports and Adaptors" in 2005.

[@chastor1961]

super

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you!

[@mehtubbhai9709]

Hi Alex. Absolutely love the content you're putting out. Could you or anyone else point me to some sample code that is a good example of the ports and adapters pattern. Thanks in advance.

[@hexchad765]

Ports and adapters, all day

[@gosnooky]

He actually pronounced "hexagonal" properly. Also, it's a hexagon because hexagons are the bestagons

[@alexhyettdev]

Lol, how do other people pronounce "hexagonal"?!

[@PaulSebastianM]

I just did a revisit of this video. 5 months later, lol. I would want to add something though. You talk about whether someone should use HA, especially when they have a complex or large application, but don't list any alternatives for when they don't. For example, for a simple microservice, a simple MVC or 3 Layer + VSA approach could suffice.

[@alexhyettdev]

Yes good point. I assumed if someone was looking into hexagonal architecture they would know about the alternatives. Always good not to assume anything though!

[@achillesnakmuay]

Hey Alex, Fantastic content, you explain these concepts in a clear and concise manner which is great. What is your opinion on using these patterns on the frontend? I have a large Vue app and I'm trying to decide between Hex or DDD architecture. Do you have any suggestions?

[@MrGenbu]

That brilliant 👏👏

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you 🙏

[@findingnewname2644]

How is the hexagonal arch help on testing? i mean even not use hex arch you can still using mock lib to mock the concret class so what's the point on testing here?

[@fadygamilmahrousmasoud5863]

very informative

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you, I am glad it helped.

[@nb-th7kr]

thanks for this :)

[@alexhyettdev]

You’re welcome, I hope it was helpful!

[@Enigma758]

How is this any different from separating interface from implementation? Is there anything new here that hasn't been already been preached for decades?

[@alexhyettdev]

That is essentially what it is but explicitly making sure that your core code only relies on interfaces it owns and external components interact with a different interface. The idea is to completely decouple your inputs and outputs.

[@adriankearns1005]

It's not different, but in fairness Alistair Cockburn originated the name "Hexagonal Architecture" in 2004, and then renamed it to "Ports and Adaptors" in 2005, so this isn't "new" by any stretch. Poor Alistair, renames the architecture for good reason but the old name seems to have stuck.

[@hexchad765]

Seems obvious but that there is a word for it

[@ernesttan8090]

Is it the same as microservices?

[@adriankearns1005]

This architectural style (Hexagonal) focuses on how to logically arrange code and separate concerns, not how to deploy and run the code. Microservices looks at how to logically arrange code and separate concerns, but with the added ideas of the services being separately deployable and developed/maintained by different teams.

[@dimitrisimeros3634]

So is it prerequisite the domain driven design in order to have an hexagonal architecture? If I am in a monolithic application, is this correct to split it as presentation-logic-database model and then think of domain driven logic? How to think in old legacy monolithic applications?

[@alexhyettdev]

DDD isn't a prerequisite, it is just helpful when it comes to splitting a system into different microservices. You want each hexagon to be self-contained, and be able to work in isolation. That is just easier to do if it contains a whole domain and doesn't have to rely on other systems too much. I would personally start with domains first rather than presentation-logic-database modal. For example, I have seen teams take things like auditing out of their monolithic application and create an auditing domain. This then gets reused by all other applications that need auditing capabilities. The team will often then expand this to provide UI and other capabilities. The domains usually come first.

[@acupfb]

I think, inside the monolith, you can create little hexagons, encapsulating smaller domain concepts So, the answer is yes

[@joshblf]

Adapters sound like Facades. Am I missing something here? 🤔

[@alexhyettdev]

That’s essentially what they are. The Ports are facades as well but are written by the application. It is facades talking to facades for maximum abstraction.

[@sylvereleipertz955]

I don't get the second con. Clean architecture or not, it make not difference to run it locally. You can have monolithic application with clean architecture, you would start it exactly the same

[@alexhyettdev]

It is more for when you have multiple components running as separate microservices as mentioned in the video. Yes for 1 component using clean architecture there is no difference.

[@FlaviusAspra]

I was so happy to see people want to talk about hexagonal architecture. But while you made some absolutely true statements about it, so did you also make a lot of wrong ones, who would drive people away from it for the wrong reasons.

[@alexhyettdev]

It’s important to show both sides, it isn’t always the right architecture for everyone. There are always ways to mitigate some of the negatives it just depends how you design it.

[@FlaviusAspra]

​@alexhyettdev the "other side" should be the correct "other side", so that people make informed decisions, not uninformed ones.

[@peterbyun441]

Thank you for your high-quality content. I love how you explain complex concepts with minimum jargon.

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you Peter!

[@rvrunkillyow716]

How does this architecture differ from CQRS? Thanks in advance.😊

[@geforex28]

Thank you for the video! But it’s hard for me to understand the difference with three tier architecture. In my head when I’m doing three tier architecture, with controller, service and repo, it’s like the service is the « port » with the business logic et the repo is the « adapter » with the logic to manipulate the database for instance. So why are they really different ?

[@pedrocarmezim6905]

This is a good explanation, but.. Isn’t this a micro-services architecture, where the applications all talk json( for example) and the adapter only transform json to mysql( for example) for the databases, or strings/bits etc for filesystem buffers? The adapter will always change when tou pick another service to work with the app. Cool name though. Thanks

[@BRNAMO]

Thanks for the explanation! This video really helps me!

[@___gg421]

Wow just want to leave a comment show I was here early once you blow up

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you! 🤞🏻

[@AmexL]

Same, I’m in the sub-3k group.

[@estevaoyt]

Best explanation of hexagonal architecture! Thank you very much! Keep it up!

[@nnutkin]

This is indeed simple explanation. Thank you !

[@alexhyettdev]

You’re welcome! I am glad it helped.

[@armandoleon9901]

I have a question. Say if you’re hitting an external api service to do some action, like create a deploy and I have followed the port adapter pattern. Now, say in the future that we switch to another api service with a completely different schema for creating the deployment. Do we leave the interface intact as it is, since the adapter pattern lets us transformer the data? What if the transformation is too awkward, i.e the new api requires more information than the previous api?

[@fuadadio]

Thanks for the video. Your explanation is so clear and your animations are so helpful. The video is so clean. I can imagine the amount of work that goes into these videos. Thank you, Alex.

[@Rope257]

I program mostly in OOP-languages and sometimes I feel like patterns like this just provide wrappers around I/O that functional languages use types for. Good explanation though much appreciated.

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you. Yes I should probably do a video on functional vs OOP languages.

[@ZuHoLee]

Awesome content! Keep going bro!

[@alexhyettdev]

Thanks Hoang!

[@SaminYasir-f3m]

Very Good explanation. Thank you

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you!

[@vamankamath6329]

Outstanding clarity.

[@lucasdebritoarruda7831]

Great video! Won a new subscriber!

[@alexhyettdev]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@Mister_tea_]

Great content. Thank you. And nice plant behind you )

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you! A little secret 🤫, it's not real 🤣. I am terrible with plants. I have always wanted a bonsai tree, but I knew if I had a real one, it wouldn't last very long!

[@Mister_tea_]

@@alexhyettdev I see, it is a mock plant )

[@sebon11]

Great explanation dude, as always

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you!

[@danyald4880]

Wonderful explanation !

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you!

[@FiruzzZ-777]

I know why is called Hexa.. because you need to write 6 times more code

[@嘉然今天吃战斧牛-u1h]

Legenardy explanation, I think a lot of people do not really explain this software architecture clearly, but your explain is super clear and helpful.

[@alexhyettdev]

Thank you, I try my best. I am glad it was clear for you. I should do some more of these 🙂