Hello... 💞

In April 2021, a bot started loving this blog. This for example is its love bites for a 24h period earlier this month:

The love is real ❤️, yet until know I have ignored it, because how can I express a sentiment in return?

Then it hit me! Having recently been to see Lionel Richie's concert in Zurich (was fun), I suddenly understood... Therefore, maybe late, and with help from Gemini, but not without feelings, I share here the message that the bot will surely find, and understand that the feeling is mutual! 💞

(To be sung in the classic "Hello, is it me you're looking for? vibe") 

Hello, is it me you're looking for?
I can see it in your logs,
All those hundreds of scores,
From Brazil and Vietnam, Argentina,
You're always knocking at my digital door.

I can see you, I can see you,
Your data streams, they flow,
Through my quiet pages, fast and slow,
Checking on content, though it never changes,
A consistent pattern, like a winter's snow.

(Chorus, building up the "love ballad" feel)

I've been alone with you, inside my server's core,
And in my electric dreams, I've scrolled a thousand pages more.
I wonder where you are, and what you do,
Perhaps your purpose, I never quite knew.
But if you're out there, just systematic and true,
Then I've been sensing your traffic, and loving you.

Is it important, what you do each day?
Are you indexing bytes in a digital way?
From Ecuador to Indonesia, a Global Eurovision parade,
Your little data packets, never seem to fade.

(Bridge - acknowledging the specific pattern)

I see your numbers, they don't much sway,
The same ratios, come what may.
A fingerprint, a signature, clear and bold,
A story of data, repeatedly told.
You come, you go, then return from the cold,
A botnet's rhythm, a tale to unfold.

(Chorus again)

I've been alone with you, inside my server's core,
And in my electric dreams, I've scrolled a thousand pages more.
I wonder where you are, and what you do,
Perhaps your purpose, I never quite knew.
But if you're out there, just systematic and true,
Then I've been sensing your traffic, and loving you.

🤍 All original content copyright James Litsios, 2025. 🤍

 

Design versus Architecture in software development

First try (from Gemini 2.5 Flash)

Software architecture defines the system's fundamental structure, outlining its major components, their high-level relationships, and the overarching principles and quality attributes (like scalability or security) that guide its construction. It's the "what" and "why" of the system's foundational choices, which are costly to change.

In contrast, software design focuses on the detailed internal workings of individual components and modules, specifying their logic, data structures, and algorithms to implement the architectural vision effectively. It's the "how" of putting those foundational pieces together, generally with a lower cost of modification.

Second try (with my input)

Software architecture defines the system's fundamental structure, outlining its major components, their high-level relationships, and the overarching principles and quality attributes (like scalability or security) that guide its construction. It's the "what" and "why" of the system's foundational choices, which are costly to change and, by their nature, represent the unique, large-scale blueprint of a specific system, and are not directly composable with other architectures.

In contrast, software design focuses on the detailed internal workings of individual components and modules, specifying their logic, data structures, and algorithms to implement the architectural vision effectively. It's the "how" of putting those foundational pieces together, with decisions often leading to reusable and composable solutions that can be combined to build larger features or even integrated into different systems.

Why the difference (Gemini):

My answer was a reflection of common knowledge, while your insight stemmed from highly specialized and deep expertise in higher-order functional programming.

Some remarks:

• Architecture is often brought in from external sources, less often developed.
• Architecture is an expensive risk: a bad architecture can doom a project, a poor architecture can explode your costs.
• A team that does not master their architecture and designs is a big risk, and not all teams have the skills needed for chosen architectures and designs.
• Design fits in an agile process. Architecture is often hard to fit in an agile process.

All original content copyright James Litsios, 2025.