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Average Customer Review
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Comprehensive view on the subject of Systems Architecture, August 28, 2005
When it comes to the systems or software architecture, I subscribe to Tom Demarco's definition: "An architecture is a framework for the disciplined introduction of change." (http://www.systemsguild.com/GuildSite/TDM/Architecture.html). And while most of the job postings matching "architect" these days talk about the need for writing and testing code, there is a growing awareness in the industry that in order to build a resilient enterprise system an organization must look beyond design patterns and coding idioms. In addition to the technical challenges, building large enterprise system requires effort of many professionals during an extended period of time. This brings other non-technical risks into the picture.
This is one of the better books covering many issues that comprise System Architecture discipline in the light of their personal experience. The authors introduce us to an approach for partitioning architecture using Viewpoints (behavioral characteristics, e.g. Functional, Information, Concurrency, Development, Deployment, Operational) and Perspectives (nonfunctional aspects, e.g. Security, Performance and Scalability, Availability and Resilience, Evolution).
The first half of the book describes the discipline of Application Software Architecture, the second half contains two catalogs, one for Viewpoints and the other for Perspectives. Both catalogs describe concerns, artifacts (models), problems and pitfalls when focusing on a viewpoint or perspective.
I would qualify this book as a companion and reference for a beginner through intermediate level. It gives an excellent overview of what a system architect has to go through day in and day out to achieve success. The book contains a wealth of advice on what to pay and not pay attention to in any particular stage of the architectural development. The authors clearly speak from personal experience. Their examples are always to the point, although a bit sketchy with respect to details on techniques and artifacts and how to develop and use them. Considering the site of the volume, the authors did an excellent job balancing width and depth of coverage: trying to cover such a vast discipline in detail in a 500+-page book is not possible.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Every IT architect should read this book, January 3, 2006
My reason for buying this book was to hear what the authors had to say about handling cross-cutting architectural concerns (such as security), which they refer to as "perspectives". The authors offer refreshing insights into how such concerns should be interwoven with the architecture views/viewpoints with which many architects will already be familiar when documenting their software architectures.
But now that I've finally finished reading the book (500+ pages) I have to say that this book is so much more. This is essentially a "book of 2 halves". The first half discusses fundamental architecture concepts, and various elements of the architecture process. However, the second half of the book is dedicated to a catalog of viewpoints and a catalog of perspectives. These sections are, I think, the most valuable, and offer probably the best overview of different architectural concerns (such as concurrency, deployment, operations, security, availability etc.) I've come across. And the whole book is liberally sprinkled with pragmatic advice, and examples, based on the authors' experiences.
In summary, the book makes a great "handbook" for both novice and experienced architects.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Simply Excellent, June 1, 2005
This is an awesome book for Architects. It ties together the SEI books Software Architecture in Practice, 2nd Edition and Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond in its own way making Architecture very understandable.
I am not going to blabber about each chapter I will just say they are all excellent and complete. Go to the book's site for more info on the details of the book. http://www.viewpoints-and-perspectives.info/
I have over 10 years of experience as a software architect. This book is an excellent addition to my library. It is an easy read with tons of info in it.
Even if you are not an architect it is a great book to buy so you understand what to expect out of one. I may buy a few extra copies to give out on projects so they understand why I am supposed to be there. Anyone reading this book should have a great and complete understanding of architecture and the value it adds to a project.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Brings many things together, July 13, 2006
I was impressed with this book's unique perspective of blending the business and technical needs into a single focus, and it continued to maintain the human considerations. It does an excellent job of describing how to support business decisions through architecture at a macro level in a style where "the rubber hits the road."
If you are a systems analyst or a software development manager, this shouldn't be on your book shelf - it should be on your desk for regular reference.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
explains the job of a system architect, July 1, 2006
The authors give the reader detailed and useful suggestions about designing a software system. It should be made clear that this is not a programming book. Coding particulars are at a finer level outside the book's scope.
The book is addressed to the software architect. Which can be rather a vague job role. One merit of the book is that it can be used to define what a software architect does. While the authors might not claim to encompass everything in your job description, perhaps what is given here is your core responsibility.
So the text shows how to identify and use scenarios, to build sets of scenarios. And yet be able to construct inherently different scenarios. A vital feature of making the scenarios is how it involves the stakeholders very early in the design. Vital in preventing misunderstandings about undesigned or unneeded functionalities, before they get built into the system.
Then, given a system, the text explains how to document it using UML. The latter is extremely useful. Both for programmers who might have to design to it, and for the stakeholders. The visual nature of UML helps make it understandable to both parties.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Informative, Practical, Insightful: a must-have for working architects!, August 17, 2005
This very readable book covers covers a lot of ground. It's a great introduction for those interested in software architecture; it's also a got a lot of great insights and useful information for practicing s/w architects.
Two of the main benefits this book has over other architecture books are:
a) it's one of the more up-to-date (Spring/2005) texts available on the subject
b) it's agnostic: giving equal coverage to all of the main schools, rather than focusing on just one.
One (relatively) unique idea in this book is the notion of "views" (as in Hofmeister or Krutchen) vs "perspectives"; perspectives being issues such as "security" that tend to cut *across* views.
Another thing I really liked was the emphasis on "architecture" as fundamentally driven by, and created for - the *stakeholders*.
This book is a great buy: it contains a lot of interesting, useful and important ideas and information about the art and science of software architecture.
Very, very highly recommended!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
If you can buy only one book, get this one!, November 4, 2005
I am part of a software engineering process improvement group. In simple this means that I have read more books on software engineering in the last year than I care to mention. There are many good books on architecture, but the ones I have read all seem to conflict with one another and they didn't go to the tactical depths we needed to structure a solid process. I have found this book to be one of the best investments I have every made. I have recommended this book to at least five other co-worker who have all thanked me twice. Buy a copy for you, and a friend, and your boss, ....
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One more gushing fan, July 14, 2008
At the risk of adding one more gushing review to this excellent book - let me say that this book is very good for relatively non-technical folks also. I am working as a manager of a technical team and I used this book to come up on speed on the basics of software architecture. The material layout is very clear and consistent - it helped me to get through the basic concepts quickly and come back for a more detailed reading. The book helped me to ask the relevant questions and focus the team on the right sense of issues.
Only suggestion I have for a subsequent edition is to include one full blown case study.
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Excellent book on Software Architecture, June 16, 2008
Having been in the IT world for more than 25 years and studying this topic for many of those years I have found this book to be extremely accessible. I reference it often. I like the way it deals with real business world issues as opposed to on board jet navigation systems etc. I rate it right along with Craig Larman "Applying UML and Patterns".
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
More then excellent, July 14, 2005
This book on architecture has it all from fundamentals to the process, from views to quality attributes. A book on how to tacle issue like scoping, concerns, engaging stakeholders, identifying scenarios, using styles and patterns, producing models, creating and validating architecture.
Also lots of information on views and quality attributes (perpectives). And all very well presented. Anybody who has read the SEI books needs to read this one as well.
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