WTF on Business Logic Layers

Alex of the Daily WTF takes a break from the humorous code samples and screen prints and summarizes exactly why I hated dealing with so-called “Enterprise Architects.”  He goes over the fallacy of putting all “business logic” in a single layer, and when doing so how it makes a system needlessly complex.  He really puts into words what I’ve felt in the past when dealing with enterprise software.  My favorite quote:

It was as if its architects were given a perfectly good hammer and gleefully replied, neat! With this hammer, we can build a tool that can pound in nails.

I’m so happy to have gotten out of the enterprise software business to get some fresh air.  I’m perfectly happy coding web sites that work.  Sure, we do have to tie into back end systems and deal with some business logic, but thankfully we are insulated from most of it.  In the end all the architects that strive so hard to wrangle all of their business logic into a single layer ultimately get exactly what they deserve - a needlessly complex piece of software that is still costly to maintain.

The Mythical Business Layer - Worse Than Failure