In simple words, when one divides an application or a module into smaller, independent services, the outcome is also known as microservices. These small pieces can also be deployed independently.
If we go back in history, we find that the term microservices was used for the first time in 2011 at the workshop of Software Architects. In March 2012, James Lewis presented some of his ideas about the term microservices. By the end of 2013, various groups in the IT industry had started discussing microservices, and by 2014, microservices had become popular enough to be considered a serious contender for large enterprises.
So, what are microservices really? There are a plethora of definitions so you can define microservices as per your own understanding of the term or what kind of use cases and discussions you may have. Let us look at a microservices definition...