Hey Ninja!! Reading this article on Google or using a web browser? Using a smartphone or PC? Is each process so smooth and easy? Thanks to software that makes your life easy. From starting your PC to visiting this article, every process is handled by a piece of software. You might be aware of all this, but do you know what is software architecture?
In this article, you will start with learning What is software architecture and then the design and fundamentals of software architecture.
“Software is a set of programs or instructions used to operate a computer system and perform specific tasks in the system.”
Now, let’s move to the following definition of Software Architecture.
“Software architecture represents a system's overall structure and behaviour. It acts as a design model for the developer team and a blueprint for software apps.”
Within an organisation, innovation is enabled and feasible through software architecture. The architecture used in their programs must be of
High Quality.
Readily Availability.
Able to handle the workload.
Cost-effective.
Scalable
It is simply how the system is organised. This organisation includes all elements, such as
Their interactions.
The settings in which they function.
The design concepts used for the software.
It may also refer to how the software will develop in the future.
When teams make decisions about the system, It supports the analysis of the system’s qualities. The quality analysis in the decision phase before the deployment acts as feedback for the system and results in high-quality products. The quality analysis enables stakeholders and teams to decide whether they’re:
Creating a new System.
OR
Evolving a current System.
OR
Updating a Legacy System.
Note: Legacy systems are outdated systems.
Every step of the project is logically pulled together for all stakeholders by an effective architecture, promoting agility, time and money savings, and early design risk analysis.
A specified goal or goals are considered when designing software architecture. It must be completed without interfering with the goals of any other devices or systems. The working and structure of the programs influence good decisions. Thus, they must be created and rendered correctly for the best outcomes.
After knowing what is software architecture, let’s move on to the designing concepts.
Software design offers a design strategy that details how a system's components fit together and achieve the system's goals. The following are the main elements of the software design process:
A list of the prerequisites for software: This document outlines the desired behaviour of the system. The requirements should also include connecting the software and other systems, hardware, and users.
The criteria in the document should be
Clear.
Executable.
Measurable.
Traceable to business needs.
High-level Design: The system's complex design is broken down into simpler sub-systems and modules in the high-level design, showing how they interact. It focuses on the entire system design and all its parts implemented as modules.
Detailed Layout: Implementing a system's visible parts, including its supporting systems, is known as a detailed layout or design. Each module's logical structure and interfaces for linking with other modules are defined in this document in a detailed manner.
Software Design comes after the Planning and requirement analysis and before the detailed design, coding, integration, testing, and deployment.
A software architect can only partially architect a system upfront since current trends in software architecture presume that the design changes over time. Typically, as a system is being implemented, the design changes. The software architect keeps up with new information and evaluates the design against the needs of the real world.
Fundamentals of Software Architecture
In this article on what is software architecture, it’s time to cover some fundamentals of Software Architecture. You will learn the following topics:
Problems Solved by architecture analysis.
Principles of Software Architecture.
Advantages of Software Architecture.
Disadvantages of Software Architecture.
Problems Solved by Design Analysis
Software flaws that affect security typically fall into two categories:
Defects in the Design of the Software.
Bugs in the execution of the Software’s program.
At least half of the security issue is caused by execution defects in the code, and half focuses on different flaws developed during the design stage. To ensure the safety of your system, the design team must manage both flaws and provide an efficient solution.
It will help in obtaining the product in a cost-effective manner.
It is worth noting that even with the most powerful tools available to humans and the best code review systems in the world, it's rare that you can identify and correct all system errors.
The design analysis solves these flaws in the following manner:
Examine the basic design concepts of the system by evaluating the basic principles of designing.
Evaluate the attack area or the areas sensitive to error so that the developers can work carefully in these areas.
List all threat agents affecting the software and convey the information to the development team.
Identify the security controls' flaws and gaps and work on them to find an optimal solution.
Software Design Principles
A good collection of design principles called SOLID is applied to create object-oriented software.
These five basic design principles comprise the acronym SOLID:
S: Single Responsibility Principle. Most developers currently use this idea while writing code. Applying this approach makes software easier to implement, code easier to test and maintain, and it helps prevent unexpected side effects of future updates.
O: Open-Closed Principle. Writing stable, easily-revisable code typically applies to this idea. Your Class follows the open-closed principle if it is: Open for extension: It denotes that you can improve the activities and actions of the class. Closed for Modification: You can’t modify the source code once it is fixed.
Abstractions are the best way to comply with these rules and ensure that your class is simple to extend without requiring code modifications.
L: Liskov Substitution Principle. Independent services must be able to interact with one another and take each other's place. By sticking to this approach, changes can be made without needing to open a closed class or suffering side effects.
I: Interface Segregation Principle. According to this principle, many smaller interfaces are preferable to a few larger ones.
D: Dependency Inversion Principle. This idea provides a means of separating software units. The dependency inversion pattern is a standard method for abiding by this idea.
Advantages
It creates a solid base for the software project.
Enables scalability for your platform.
Increases the platform's performance.
Lowers expenses and prevents code duplication.
Improves the platform's quality.
Aids in complexity management.
Increases platform speed.
Disadvantages
Absence of analysis techniques to determine whether implementation of a design will satisfy criteria.
Lack of knowledge of the design process, lack of design expertise, and lack of design evaluation.
A lack of awareness of the software architect's function and poor stakeholder communication.
Lack of established tools and methods for representing architecture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are quality attributes in Software Architecture?
Quality is a metric of quality or the absence of flaws or errors. The system features distinct from the system's functionality are known as quality attributes. When quality attributes are provided, it is simpler to identify between good and bad systems.
What is the role of a Software Architect?
A software architect sets technical standards and makes high-level design decisions. A software architect primarily decides the internal structure of the solution. An integral member of the discovery team that determines what a client wants to construct and what resources it will require is a software architect.
Is software architecture essential for development?
A software system's architecture serves as its foundation. The quality of the structure built on top of the foundation, like other types of engineering, is greatly influenced by it. As a result, it has a crucial role in the system's effective development and long-term support.
Conclusion
We have discussed, what is software architecture, design and fundamentals. Within an organisation, innovation is enabled and feasible through software architecture. It comes after the Planning and requirement analysis and before the detailed design, coding, integration, testing, and deployment.
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