What is Software Architecture?
Software Architecture is a series of decisions intended to reduce the cost of building and changing a software.
Software solutions are built to address some businesses' needs. The more time spent building it, the higher the engineering costs; the longer the time-to-market, the higher the cost of lost opportunities. Even after deployment, businesses may need to modify the software's functionality to accommodate new requirements, which can be unpredictable and expensive without sufficient design flexibility.
A good comparison for the engineering of a software could be the engineering of a car, which goes far beyond the pure goal of making it drivable and meeting specific specs on acceleration, maximum speed and consumption: it must be designed for easy maintenance and repair by third parties, easy assembly, consistent quality, error-free production, and flexibility to respond to changing market demands.
Software Architects wear multiple hats to ensure successful system design and development. They make high-level decisions on design, technology, tools, platforms, and coding standards. Their primary responsibilities include:
On the technical side, proficiency in design patterns, architectural style, and modeling languages is necessary to create complex system architectures. Additionally, expertise in different programming languages and paradigms, data modeling, database design, and efficient development practices like Agile or Scrum is critical. Understanding various technologies and their pricing tiers is also essential for making informed decisions.
Non-technical skills, such as leadership, organization, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving, are equally important for coordinating teams, planning long-term projects, anticipating problems, and devising solutions.
Just like a Building Architect, a Software Architect oversees the entire design process from start to finish, following several stages.
If you are wondering what the difference between Software Architects and Engineers is, I suggest reading this article: The Difference Between Software Development and Architecture .
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What happens when you don't do architecture?
Adhering to sound architectural principles ensures that your systems and applications are not only highly available, performant, secure, and compliant but also easily maintainable. The addition or modification of your infrastructure becomes seamless, quick, and cost-effective.
But if you take shortcuts and use quick-fix solutions instead of good architecture, your systems may only work temporarily. However, in the long run, you'll notice that they don't integrate as smoothly as they should. As a result, your ability to maintain and enhance your infrastructure will diminish, leading to the accumulation of technical debt.
Neglecting architecture can have disastrous consequences for a business. Building applications solely with the help of programmers and without a well-defined architecture is akin to a movie set: it may appear impressive, but there's nothing substantial behind it. The slightest disturbance can cause the entire structure to collapse.
[1] ?“DevOps is a set of practices, tools, and a cultural philosophy that automate and integrate the processes between software development and IT teams. It emphasizes team empowerment, cross-team communication and collaboration, and technology automation.” (https://www.atlassian.com/devops
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1 年Gabriele this is precisely the expertise I’m looking for in the class i mentioned to you. ??