Smithy

to wrap up the week, let's look a Smithy, https://github.com/awslabs/smithy from @awscloud Labs this project "defines and generates clients, services, and documentation for any protocol" which is a big claim let's see what's actually here... 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

read this thread unrolled at https://t.co/FICk4Hpn4p the previous thread is up at https://markn.ca/2021/aws-data-wrangler/ 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

the full docs site (https://awslabs.github.io/smithy/), clarifies the goal, "A language for defining services and SDKs" ok, so this is DSL-type project. the 4 main features: - protocol-agnostic - codify & enforce API governance - designed to evolve - resource based 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

the FAQ calls out that this project has been used inside Amazon & @awscloud for over a decade (that's a good sign) the project uses the term IDL or interface description language...so not quite a DSL 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

this is not a project that you are going to implement (most likely). but it is a fascinating project to learn from AWS uses Smithy to describe their services, metadata, and capabilities in a programmatic way 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

describing these systems in a machine reading format opens up a host of new possibilities like automated policy enforcement, service validate, compatibility checking, and a lot more 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

this example description from the docs really drives the point home. look 👇 at how much clearer the Smithy description is vs. a more common JSON structure 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

in Smithy, services have: - resources - operations - shapes resources & operations are straightforward but the "shape" concept deserves a closer look 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

according to the docs, a "shape" is an instance of a type and it has "traits" shapes can be simple, aggregate, or a service https://awslabs.github.io/smithy/1.0/spec/core/model.html#shapes 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

using these constructs together, you can accurately describe your service in a clear and simple manner here's a complete example from the docs: https://awslabs.github.io/smithy/quickstart.html#complete-example 🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

if you're building out a distributed system, the Smithy project is worth exploring. there's a lot of great ideas here and you might be able to leverage the project for your work at the very least, you'll learn a lot about IDLs from @awscloud's experience /🧵☁️ #cloud #devops

@marknca tweeted at 19-Nov-2021, 18:05

👆 Start