When Code Feels Beautiful: Hexagonal vs DDD

A few days ago, I came across a piece of code that genuinely made me stop and smile.

You know that feeling, when everything is clean and each layer seems to "talk" to the other with perfect balance?

Every developer knows what it's like to find beautiful code.

This one was a perfect example of Hexagonal Architecture, so well divided between application, domain, and infrastructure layers that it almost felt elegant.

But then, for a moment, I hesitated.

Was I looking at Hexagonal Architecture or Domain-Driven Design (DDD)?

They often look similar at first glance, and I found myself thinking about how to actually tell them apart.

Hexagonal Architecture

It defines boundaries clearly.

Your business logic doesn't depend on infrastructure.

External systems interact through "ports" (interfaces) and "adapters" (implementations).

Domain-Driven Design (DDD)

It's about understanding and modeling the business domain deeply.

It can be implemented within a Hexagonal Architecture.

The goal is not just clean code, but code that reflects business meaning.

Maybe that's what makes code beautiful, when structure and purpose align perfectly.