Many people don’t know the difference between architecture and application design. Even developers themselves are often unable to parse a line of code and can confuse elements of application architecture with elements of design. Meanwhile, software architecture consulting is simply necessary for both beginners and experienced developers, since there are a lot of aspects in this matter. As a developer, I would like to explain these concepts as well as the difference between designing an application and its architecture. In addition, I will show you why it is important for developers to know at least a little bit about software architecture and a lot about design. So, let’s get started.
Defining software architecture
Simply put, software architecture is the process of turning software characteristics such as: flexibility, scalability, implementability, reusability, and security into a structured solution that meets both technical and business requirements. Hence the following question arises: what software characteristics can influence the software architecture prenotification? In addition to the technical features, there are also many parameters that mainly meet business or functionality requirements.
Software architecture characteristics
As I already explained, software characteristics help to understand software requirements and expectations, regarding it on a functional and technical level. Therefore, if a product owner says that they have to compete in a rapidly changing market, then they need to adapt their business model quickly. Software must be “easy to extend its functionality, consist of blocks and be easy to maintain” if it is to be prepared well and on time. If you are a software architect, you should know that the main parameters for you will be the quality of performance and low fault tolerance, scalability and reliability. And now, having defined all the basic parameters, you hear from your manager that the budget for this project is limited. This is where another parameter comes into play – feasibility.
Designing the software
Architecture is the skeleton and layered infrastructure of software, and software design is code-level design, such as: what each module does, variety of classes, purpose of functions, etc.
If you are a developer, you need to know SOLID principles, and understand how the design pattern should solve everyday problems.
Remember that a software architect and a software developer are two different things. Software architects usually work with an experienced teammate who knows existing solutions well, which helps him or her make good decisions in the planning stage. The software developer must know the specifics of software design and also have knowledge of the application architecture to make it easier for the team to collaborate.
