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Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach 1st Edition

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 942 ratings

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Salary surveys worldwide regularly place software architect in the top 10 best jobs, yet no real guide exists to help developers become architects. Until now. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of software architecture’s many aspects. Aspiring and existing architects alike will examine architectural characteristics, architectural patterns, component determination, diagramming and presenting architecture, evolutionary architecture, and many other topics.

Mark Richards and Neal Ford―hands-on practitioners who have taught software architecture classes professionally for years―focus on architecture principles that apply across all technology stacks. You’ll explore software architecture in a modern light, taking into account all the innovations of the past decade.

This book examines:

  • Architecture patterns: The technical basis for many architectural decisions
  • Components: Identification, coupling, cohesion, partitioning, and granularity
  • Soft skills: Effective team management, meetings, negotiation, presentations, and more
  • Modernity: Engineering practices and operational approaches that have changed radically in the past few years
  • Architecture as an engineering discipline: Repeatable results, metrics, and concrete valuations that add rigor to software architecture


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From the brand


From the Publisher

software architecture, software development, programming

From the Preface

Mathematicians create theories based on axioms, assumptions for things indisputably true. Software architects build axioms as well, but the software world is, well, softer than mathematics: fundamental things continue to change at a rapid pace in the software world.

The software development ecosystem exists in a constant state of dynamic equilibrium: while it exists in a balanced state at any given point in time, it exhibits dynamic behavior over the long term. A great modern example of the nature of this ecosystem follows the ascension of containerization and the attendant changes wrought: tools like Kubernetes didn’t exist a decade ago, yet now entire software conferences exist to service its users. The software ecosystem changes fractally: one small change causes another small change; when repeated hundreds of time, it generates a new ecosystem.

Architects have an important responsibility to continue to question assumptions and axioms left over from previous eras. Many of the books about software architecture were written in an era that only barely resembles the current world.

In fact, the authors believe that we must question fundamental axioms on a regular basis, in light of improved engineering practices, operational ecosystems, software development processes—everything that makes up the messy, dynamic equilibrium where architects and developers work each day.

Careful observers of software architecture over time witnessed a slow evolution of capabilities. Starting with the engineer practices of eXtreme Programming, continuing with Continuous Delivery, the DevOps revolution, microservices, containerization, and now cloud-based resources, all of these innovations lead to new capabilities and tradeoffs. As a good illustration of this perspective shift, for many years, the tongue-in-cheek definition of software architecture was “the stuff that’s hard to change later”. Then, the microservices architecture style appeared, where change is a first-class design consideration.

Each new era requires new practices, tools, measurements, patterns, and a host of other changes. This book looks at software architecture in modern light, taking into account all the innovations from the last decade, along with some new metrics and measures suited to the new structures and perspectives now available.

This book won’t make someone a software architecture overnight—it’s a nuanced field with many facets. We want to provide existing and burgeoning architects a good modern overview of software architecture and its many aspects, from structure to soft skills. While this book covers well known patterns, we take a new approach, leaning on modern lessons learned, tools, engineering practices, and other input to build a modern book on software architecture.

Head First Software Architecture Fundamentals of Software Architecture Communication Patterns The Software Architect Elevator Software Architecture: The Hard Parts
Head First Software Architecture Fundamentals of Software Architecture Communication Patterns The Software Architect Elevator Software Architecture: The Hard Parts
Customer Reviews
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Price $56.63 $43.99 $48.99 $46.85 $32.15
What is it? Head First Software Architecture teaches you how to think architecturally and explores the unique challenges of software architecture, using a visually rich format to engage your mind. A comprehensive overview of aspects of software architecture including architectural characteristics, architectural patterns, diagramming and presenting architecture, evolutionary architecture, and more. A comprehensive guide to communicating software architecture. Learn how to successfully present your architecture and get stakeholders to jump on board. Learn how to combine organizational and technical knowledge in order to effect change in your company’s structure and processes. There are many hard parts in software architecture that force you to choose among various compromises. This book teaches you how to think critically about the trade-offs.
What you'll learn The distinction between architecture and design; the relationship between code, components, and architectural styles; and how to work with common architectural styles. How to use architecture patterns and make architectural decisions; how to use coupling, cohesion, partitioining, and granuality; soft skills; and engineering practices. How to design appropriate diagrams and documentation, and master written, verbal, and nonverbal communication to succeed in technical settings. How to work with an organization as a whole, connecting the IT engine room to the penthouse, where the business strategy is defined. How to determine service granularity, manage workflows and orchestration, manage and decouple contracts, and manage distributed transactions to how to optimize operational characteristics.
Who is this book for? If you're a software developer looking for a quick on-ramp to software architecture, this handy guide is a great place to start. Senior software developers, aspiring and 'accidental' software architects, and software architects looking to solidify their knowledge. Software developers and software architects who want to learn how to communicate their architectures effectively. Software architects, senior developers, enterprise architects and senior technologists. Software architects who are ready to delve into the 'hard parts' of software architecture.
Who else is it for? Those who want to gain an understanding of architectural dimensions and understand the differences between architecture and design. Those in other roles that need to understand the main concepts of software architecture. Those in other roles that work with software architecture and want to understand diagrams and documentation further. CTOs, senior technical architects and IT managers who are devising an IT strategy that impacts the way the organization works. Those in other roles who would like to understand more about the complex decisions in software architecture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Richards is an experienced, hands-on software architect involved in the architecture, design, and implementation of microservices architectures, service-oriented architectures, and distributed systems in a variety of technologies. He has been in the software industry since 1983 and has significant experience and expertise in application, integration, and enterprise architecture. Mark is the founder of DeveloperToArchitect.com, a free website devoted to helping developers in the journey to becoming a software architect. He is the author of numerous technical books and videos, as well as a conference speaker and trainer, having spoken at hundreds of conferences and user groups around the world on a variety of enterprise-related technical topics.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (March 3, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 419 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1492043451
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1492043454
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.47 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.86 x 9.19 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 942 ratings

About the authors

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
942 global ratings

Customers say

Customers say the book provides a great thought framework for reflecting on your current product. They also find the content excellent. However, some customers report issues with the picture quality.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

9 customers mention "Structure"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the structure of the book great for reflecting on their current product. They say it provides an excellent overview of different architectures, breadth of knowledge, and good advice for tech leads and design.

"...It included breadth of knowledge which, as the book will tell you, is much more important than depth of knowledge for an architect...." Read more

"...The authors, with their vast industry experience, provide invaluable insights...." Read more

"Excellent overview of different architectures and enable one to ask more questions, the right questions, and the right keywords to look up for..." Read more

"...Full of good advice for someone who already has some tech lead and design experience, but looking to move up in the hierarchy...." Read more

7 customers mention "Content"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the content excellent.

"...All in all, an amazing book...." Read more

"good content, but delivering is so late" Read more

"Good content. However the print, especially the picture quality and the book size really don't justify the price...." Read more

"An enjoyable read but can be better..." Read more

6 customers mention "Picture quality"0 positive6 negative

Customers find the picture quality of the book poor. They also mention that they can't read the images on the first few pages.

"Like other reviewers mentioned, the images were illegible...." Read more

"...Not sure what's going on with O'Reilly but the illustrations are terrible...." Read more

"Excellent materials. Picture quality poor. Cannot read the images on first few pages." Read more

"...] I just get the book by today, and I get nervous about the unclear picture print." Read more

Thorough overview of basics
5 out of 5 stars
Thorough overview of basics
The book is what it says: fundamentals... "just enough" of software architecture. Full of good advice for someone who already has some tech lead and design experience, but looking to move up in the hierarchy. General direction is more on breadth (architects) rather than on depth (developers). See picture for recommended study environment.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2021
I read this book as an Associate SE and I gained a ton of knowledge. This book is extremely well written. I enjoyed the order in which the topics were presented. It began with an explanation of the four pillars in software architecture. By doing so readers gain immediate value within the first few pages. I particularly enjoyed the advocation for a domain partitioned folder structure as opposed to a technically partitioned folder structure, especially for front end developers. I believe navigating the code base should very much resemble navigating the UI. This is not only cool for readability, but it inherently increases cohesion. A huge win for such a low cost.

After getting the foundations laid the authors explain different architecture styles. The part I found to be most useful was the charts they provided which give star ratings to highlight the strength and weaknesses of each architecture. This illustrates that architecture styles should be chosen for specific solutions and not trends. I gained the skills necessary to begin to think like an architect. It included breadth of knowledge which, as the book will tell you, is much more important than depth of knowledge for an architect. Then the authors decided to dive back in and elaborate a bit more on the foundations learned at the beginning. It suggested ADRs, another quick win for low costs. They also spoke about risks storming and offered friendly advice on finding balance within the teams.

All in all, an amazing book. And at the end, the authors even presented tons of short answer questions to challenge readers and really take the lesson home.
16 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2021
I'm not sure if it's the fact that I got burned by Building Evolutionary Architectures, co-authored by Neal Ford, or my previous experience with other "fundamentals" books which tended to be rather useless - my expectations were fairly low of this one but I'm glad I went ahead and read it.

The book starts off by discussing what software architecture is, what the job entails, what the common misconceptions are and then for the remainder of the book covers both the technical and soft skills required for a person to become a good architect - how to maintain the technical know-how required by the job, what types of knowledge to focus on, how to detect, discuss and document the architecture, the reasons behind it and the trade-offs it entails, how to interact with your colleagues, both on the developer and the business side, how to resolve conflicts, nurture and promote constructive collaboration etc. So, as you can see, the authors try to cover a lot of ground without going too deep (and waking Durin's Bane) - and they do it successfully.

That being said, the book isn't perfect, some chapters could have used more feedback, especially the event-driven architecture one, which felt a bit dated and like it came from someone who didn't have firsthand experience with it recently. Also, I can't really say that I truly discovered something new within its pages - which isn't necessarily a bad thing if, like here, the summary of the things you know is presented in such a way it actually reinforces the existing knowledge.
9 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
Lacking education in software architecture, I've always desired to bridge that knowledge gap. I've attempted to learn through YouTube videos presented by university professors, but found them lacking. In an effort to enrich my understanding, I purchased this book. The authors, with their vast industry experience, provide invaluable insights. They emphasize the importance of breadth over depth in knowledge for architects and offer advice on navigating office politics to facilitate smooth team integration. The book intriguingly incorporates teachings from the ancient Chinese warrior, Sun Tzu, which I found particularly enlightening. This book has certainly satisfied my curiosity about software architecture.

However, I did observe some shortcomings. I was anticipating a comprehensive exploration of a solid software architecture design example, but was disappointed. The book uses the failure of pets.com as a counter-example, and all the discussed cases pertain to web applications, like handling concurrent requests. Since software isn't exclusively about web apps, I found this to be a limitation. My personal project involves building a trading platform, and unfortunately, the book didn't provide much insight for this kind of venture, for which I had to deduct a point.

As for the physical quality of the book, O'Reilly consistently delivers. The book feels good to hold and is printed in black and white. This isn't a problem, as all the images are legible without the need for color.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2020
Like other reviewers mentioned, the images were illegible. However I returned mine for a replacement and got a "2020-06-12: Second Release" version which fixed the images.
32 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2022
Excellent overview of different architectures and enable one to ask more questions, the right questions, and the right keywords to look up for further exploration and self study.

There are no implementation details but a good idea of the structure, action, pros and cons.

So this book won't teach you how to implement messaging or Domain Driven Design, for example, but will give you an idea about how to identify whether and where they are needed, and why.

A solid step up for those who know how all the parts work and now would like to know, how to know, which parts will be appropriate in different situations.
8 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2022
The book is what it says: fundamentals... "just enough" of software architecture. Full of good advice for someone who already has some tech lead and design experience, but looking to move up in the hierarchy. General direction is more on breadth (architects) rather than on depth (developers). See picture for recommended study environment.
Customer image
5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough overview of basics
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2022
The book is what it says: fundamentals... "just enough" of software architecture. Full of good advice for someone who already has some tech lead and design experience, but looking to move up in the hierarchy. General direction is more on breadth (architects) rather than on depth (developers). See picture for recommended study environment.
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3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2023
The book has the right balance to talk and explain about architecture and the role of the architect
As an architect it was a good read
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ricardo Vasquez
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy buen libro
Reviewed in Mexico on November 11, 2023
Para empezar a adentrarse al tema
Graham
4.0 out of 5 stars Great but needs an editor
Reviewed in Canada on January 8, 2023
There are really good tips and insights in here, backed up by helpful diagrams. Too bad it’s wrapped up in obtuse, wordy sentences and full of typos.
2 people found this helpful
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Marcos Ferreira
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente!
Reviewed in Brazil on October 16, 2022
Excelente! Conforme minhas expectativas.
Luca
5.0 out of 5 stars Mark Richards una garanzia!
Reviewed in Italy on May 11, 2024
L’autore tratta in maniera eccellente le architetture software a 360 gradi, il libro è utile sia per chi si approccia per la prima volta in questo ambito sia per chi vuole approfondire.
Pedro
5.0 out of 5 stars Bom livro!
Reviewed in Spain on December 3, 2023
Indicado para quem quer perceber os conceitos e alternativas existentes na arquitectura de software.