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Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach 1st Edition
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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
- ISBN-101492043451
- ISBN-13978-1492043454
- Edition1st
- PublisherO'Reilly Media
- Publication dateMarch 3, 2020
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions7 x 0.86 x 9.19 inches
- Print length419 pages
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What's it about?
This book provides the first comprehensive overview of software architecture’s many aspects, focusing on principles that apply across all technology stacks and exploring modern engineering practices and operational approaches.
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Everything in software architecture is a trade-off. First Law of Software Architecture1,023 Kindle readers highlighted this
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All architectures become iterative because of unknown unknowns, Agile just recognizes this and does it sooner.840 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Why is more important than how. Second Law of Software Architecture369 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Sharing the knowledge of experts
O'Reilly's mission is to change the world by sharing the knowledge of innovators. For over 40 years, we've inspired companies and individuals to do new things (and do them better) by providing the skills and understanding that are necessary for success.
Our customers are hungry to build the innovations that propel the world forward. And we help them do just that.
From the Publisher
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.
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| Head First Software Architecture | Fundamentals of Software Architecture | Communication Patterns | The Software Architect Elevator | Software Architecture: The Hard Parts | |
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| Price | $56.63$56.63 | $43.99$43.99 | $48.99$48.99 | $46.85$46.85 | $32.15$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. |
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About the Author
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
- Best Sellers Rank: #40,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

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.

Neal is Director, Software Architect, and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks, a software company and a community of passionate, purpose-led individuals, who thinks disruptively to deliver technology to address the toughest challenges, all while seeking to revolutionize the IT industry and create positive social change. He is an internationally recognized expert on software development and delivery, especially in the intersection of agile engineering techniques and software architecture. Neal has authored magazine articles, eight books (and counting), dozens of video presentations, and spoken at hundreds of developers conferences worldwide. His topics include software architecture, continuous delivery, functional programming, cutting edge software innovations, and includes a business-focused book and video on improving technical presentations
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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.
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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
Customers find the content excellent.
"...All in all, an amazing book...." Read more
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Customers find the picture quality of the book poor. They also mention that they can't read the images on the first few pages.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2022
As an architect it was a good read


















