MVC Pattern
Overview
A system's software architecture illustrates its organization or structure and explains how it works. A system is a collection of components that perform a given function or set of functions. In other words, software architecture provides a solid foundation for building software. Architectural considerations and trade-offs influence the system's quality, performance, maintainability, and overall success. Failure to consider typical difficulties and long-term effects can jeopardize your system. There are numerous high-level architectural patterns and ideas that are widely used in current systems. Architectural styles are commonly used to describe this. However, a software system's architecture is rarely constrained to a single architectural style. Instead, a mix of styles is frequently used.
Software Architecture Fundamentals
What is Software Architecture?
A system's software architecture represents the design decisions linked to the general structure and behavior of the system. Architecture assists stakeholders in comprehending and analyzing how the system will attain critical characteristics such as modifiability, availability, and security. It specifies how components of a software system are constructed, as well as their relationships and communication. It acts as a software application blueprint and a development foundation for the developer team.
Software architecture comprises quality attributes, design, technology environment, human dynamics, and business strategy.
Characteristics of Software Architecture
Architects classify architectural characteristics into broad groups based on functioning, seldom appearing requirements, construction, etc. Some of the most crucial characteristics that are typically considered are explained below.
- Operational architecture characteristics - Availability, performance, reliability, high fault tolerance, and scalability
- Structural architecture characteristics - configurability, supportability, extensibility, portability, and maintainability
- Cross-cutting architecture characteristics - Accessibility, securability, usability, feasibility, and privacy
SOLID Principles of Software Architecture
Each character in the word SOLID represents a distinct principle of software architecture. These principles are applied to avoid product strategy errors and architectural or developmental failure.
- Single accountability Principle: Each service should have a single goal.
- Open-closed principle: It states that software modules should be self-contained and extendable.
- Liskov Substitution Principle: It says that independent services must be able to communicate and substitute one another.
- Interface Segregation Principle: Software should be separated into microservices with no redundancy.
- Dependency Inversion Principle: Higher-level modules should not be dependent on lower-level modules, and modifications at the higher level should not influence the lower level.
Importance of Software Architecture
It might be challenging to create an effective architecture that allows for rapid product delivery for today's needs while simultaneously addressing long-term ambitions. Failure to identify, prioritize, and manage trade-offs among architecturally significant features frequently results in project delays, expensive rework, or worse.
Software architecture is an essential component of software application development. The following are reasons why software architecture is significant from a technical and developmental standpoint.
- Selects quality attributes for a system to optimize.
- Allows for early prototyping.
- Allows for the construction of a system component by component.
- Aids in the management of system changes.
Advantages of Software Architecture
- Through architecture, it is possible to comprehend and meet customers' needs.
- Good architecture reduces development costs.
- It provides a concrete foundation for the software project.
- It helps in providing increased performance.
Disadvantages of Software Architecture
- Obtaining excellent tools and standardization can be a challenge in software architecture.
- It is not always possible to anticipate the success of a project simply on its architecture.
Software Architecture Patterns
In software architecture, the components can be organized in a variety of ways. Software architecture patterns are the various predefined organization of components in software architectures. Many different patterns were explored and evaluated. The majority of them have effectively solved a variety of challenges. In software architectures, the components are grouped differently in each pattern to solve a given challenge. Let us look at some important architectural patterns.
Layered Pattern
This pattern can be used to structure programs that can be broken down into groups of subtasks, each at a different degree of abstraction. Each layer delivers services to the layer above it. The layered design is ideal for e-commerce, desktop, and other applications that have groups of subtasks that must be completed in a precise order. The layered architecture makes it easier to create programs rapidly, but it can be challenging to divide out the levels later.
Client-Server Pattern
This pattern involves two parties: a server and several clients. The server component will serve multiple client components. Clients request services from the server, and the server responds by providing those services. Furthermore, the server is still listening to client requests. The client-server pattern is a peer-to-peer architecture in which a client requests a service, and a server provides the service. Examples include banking, file sharing, email, and the World Wide Web. The fact that data and network peripherals are managed centrally is an advantage of this structure; nonetheless, the server is expensive.
Event-Driven Pattern
This design focuses on events and contains four primary components: an event source, an event listener, a channel, and an event bus. Messages are published by sources to certain channels on an event bus. Listeners subscribe to certain channels. Listeners are notified when messages are published to a channel they have previously subscribed to.
Microkernel Pattern
The microkernel pattern consists of two essential components. There is a core system as well as plug-in modules. The core system handles the application's basic and simplest operations. The plug-in modules handle the additional functionality and specialized processing. The microkernel pattern is best suited for product-based and scheduling applications. This design is commonly used in app development, and examples are Instagram reels, YouTube Shorts, etc.
Microservices Pattern
The microservices design pattern combines multiple design patterns to construct numerous services that work together to form a larger application. Because each program is small, it is easy to update them when necessary, but the complexity requires more architectural skill to ensure everything works properly.
Conclusion
- Architecture acts as a system's blueprint. It provides an abstraction for managing system complexity and establishing a method for communication and coordination among components.
- It specifies a systematic approach for meeting all technical and operational requirements while optimizing common quality features such as performance and security.
- Furthermore, it entails several critical organizational decisions connected to software development, each of which can significantly impact the end product's quality, maintainability, performance, and overall success.
- The fundamental purpose of the architecture is to identify requirements that affect the application's structure. A well-planned architecture mitigates the business risks associated with developing a technical solution and serves as a link between business and technical requirements.