What are the most popular software architecture frameworks?

Layered architecture organizes a software system into distinct levels, each with its own responsibility. This separation of concerns enhances modularity and maintainability. The IDesign method further refines this by advocating a top-to-bottom flow (client -> managers -> engine -> resource), ensuring clarity and efficiency. It's essential to balance the number of services to avoid complexity or excessive costs. By focusing on volatility, we achieve an adaptable architecture. The goal is to find the minimal set of services that meet all core use cases and encapsulate volatilities.

Layered architecture is one of the most structured approaches of well-defined loosely coupled software design, enhancing maintainability. Most widely used logical layers are Interaction/helper layer, Business logic, Data Access etc. Mentioned layers also deployed together as application to service specific purpose. Its fairly easy to detect and isolate issue during debugging within specific layer without affecting the entire system. This modularity simplifies maintenance tasks. I would highly recommend this while developing single application or microservices.

Some of the most popular software architecture frameworks include the Model-View-Controller (MVC), which separates an application into three main components; the Microservices architecture, which structures an application as a collection of loosely coupled services; the Layered architecture, which organizes components into horizontal layers; and the Domain-Driven Design (DDD), which focuses on domain modeling and collaboration between technical and domain experts. These frameworks provide guidelines and best practices for designing and organizing software systems, helping developers create scalable, maintainable and efficient applications.

Layer architecture focused on functional abstraction. The abstraction forces the application to separate the responsibilities and keeping the domain complexity specific and manageable further encourages high functional cohesion. IMO, the pros of employing it outweigh the cons.

From my experience with companies getting bigger and "older", there will always be a mixture of architectures in a high-level overview. Specific use cases arise as companies and technologies change and evolve. But, even at the low-level, there will be a conflict or mixture in the same project and the same goal. So, there is no safer option than to follow the best practices of whatever architecture or mixture you get thrown into. The goal is to get the work done and allow the company systems to run with low friction.

In my view, crafting and perfecting individual microservices generally present fewer hurdles than the intricacies involved in integrating them into projects. Moreover, despite their independent design, it's crucial to establish means of inter-service communication, whether through REST APIs or messaging services. Therefore, determining the quantity of microservices and delineating their logical boundaries is highly essential.

Microservices makes the developer life easy for the below reasons. 1. Quick development as size would be small/medium 2. Easy maintenance and deployment 3. Easy to test But the harsh reality is that there should be proper maintenance of documentation of all micro services and their purpose. Otherwise it will become very clumsy to understand the entire batch of micro services in the application.

Microservices architecture is an attempt to create reusable services somewhat. The key to this is to keep the service as simple as possible and at the same time keep the number of services in check. If you do this well, investing in microservice architecture will pay you in many folds.

?? ?????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ?? Divides a system into small, independent services for flexibility and efficiency. ?? High Scalability & Availability - Facilitates growth and ensures reliability through distributed services. ?? Faster Development Cycles - Enables rapid deployment and iteration by isolating service updates. ?? Increased Overhead - Demands more in terms of coordination, monitoring, and infrastructure management. #SoftwareEngineering #Microservices #SystemDesign

TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework): Widely used for enterprise architecture, providing a comprehensive approach. Zachman Framework: Organizes perspectives on enterprise architecture and promotes a structured approach to design and decision-making. Archimate: Focuses on visual modeling and notation for enterprise architecture, providing a standardized way to represent architectural concepts. MODAF (Ministry of Defence Architecture Framework): Primarily used in defense and security domains, offering a framework for system development and integration. Microservices Architecture: Although not a traditional framework, the microservices architectural style is gaining popularity for building scalable and modular systems.

I love event service, because it models after human behavior. An event triggers some actions. The application can easily model any event flow with relative ease. The concern for this architecture is that events can get complex quickly and unanticipated events can easily slip through and create unintended behaviors.

?? ??????????-???????????? ???????????????????????? ?? Leverages events to drive interactions and actions within software systems. ?? ???????? ???????????????????????????? & ?????????????????????? - Enables immediate reaction to state changes for dynamic system behavior. ?? ?????????????????????? & ???????????????????? - Facilitates system growth and simplifies component integration by minimizing dependencies. ?? ?????????????????? ???????????????????? & ?????????????????? ???????????????????? - Adds complexity to system architecture and complicates tracing and debugging processes. #SoftwareEngineering #EventDrivenArchitecture #SystemDesign

?? ?????????????????? ???????????????????????? ?? Focuses on separating core logic from external interactions through a structured layout. ?? ?????????????????????? & ?????????????????????????????? - Facilitates easy testing and updates without affecting external dependencies. ?? ???????????????????? ???? ???????????????? - Enhances clarity by isolating business logic from input/output mechanisms. ?? ?????????? ???????????????????? & ???????????? - Requires more layers of abstraction, increasing design and implementation challenges. #SoftwareEngineering #HexagonalArchitecture #SystemDesign

Lazyman's approach. Outsource it when you can. Use it on demand and let the expert worry about how to optimize and maintain the hardware. Love this but be warned you also give up a lot of control and it can be costly and very much vendor-centric.

Agree on all the points above about serverless architecture, few more thoughts to consider- There is a good potential to create a tight coupling or dependency with infrastructure provider/ cloud platforms unless carefully planned. Going serverless can reduce the carbon footprint of application since infra is provisioned on demand. Again, right configuration in terms of provisioned capacity and cold starts are needed.

?? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ?? Utilizes cloud services for running software components, eliminating the need for managing servers. ?? Reduced Operational Costs - Minimizes expenses related to server management and maintenance. ?? Faster Development & Deployment - Accelerates the process from development to deployment by leveraging cloud capabilities. ?? Increased Dependency & Latency - Introduces challenges such as higher reliance on cloud providers and potential latency issues. #SoftwareEngineering #ServerlessArchitecture #CloudComputing

It's important to note that the specific serverless offerings and features may vary between cloud providers, and adopting certain vendor-specific functionalities might create a level of vendor lock-in. If you heavily leverage unique services or features provided by a particular cloud provider, migrating away from that provider could be challenging. To mitigate vendor lock-in concerns, some organizations choose serverless frameworks that are compatible with multiple cloud providers, allowing them to switch between providers more easily. Additionally, adhering to standard practices and avoiding reliance on proprietary services can contribute to a more portable serverless architecture.

Great for small shops starting out, needing little expertise...but costly once you're up and running, very costly once you reach a medium size...

Some other frameworks/principles to consider are - 1. DDD (Domain Driven Design) principles 2. Clean Architecture practices. These are used widely with other popular architectures.

Model driven architecture - Develop products with the focus on empowering self service. - Enable Requirement as Code - Empower Governance

Many businesses still utilize monolithic architecture, which proves effective for simpler applications or during the initial stages of software development for proof-of-concept purposes. The decision to transition from a monolithic structure to microservices hinges on factors such as workload and scalability needs.

Other famous architecture types includes vertical slice architecture, n-tier architecture. These also help in building applications that are easier to maintain and modify.

Some of the architecture frameworks I have come across are as below. 1. MVC (model view controller) architecture 2. SOA (service oriented architecture) 3. EDA (event driven architecture) 4. Layered architecture