Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

It is time to wrap up the season of software architecture from scratch.  We have covered a broad range of topics and now are able to look over them as a whole.  There are common themes across the various areas that point us to software architecture best practices.  Here are a few core concepts we should take from this season. Clarity is Key We have to communicate our results.  These deliverables a...

We have looked at a broad range of topics this season.  However, it is time for us to tackle the middle tier architecture.  Thus, we need to consider process steps (or flow) and look for commonality among the problems we solve.  This area is not the most obvious to architect.  However, it is an essential piece of the final solution. Middle Tier Architecture As We Go One of the challenges with the...

At some point in your project, architectural documentation becomes an essential piece of the deliverables.  This material is often a set of diagrams and bullet points.  However, there is more that we need to include.  A good set of deliverables will consist of some defense of the decisions made.  While this defense is good for CYA, it is more important when someone needs to consider whether a chan...

A critical design decision in the object-oriented world is whether to choose cohesion or coupling.  These two approaches are not mutually exclusive.  However, it is rare to see a mix of the two.  Therefore, this decision in the architecture will profoundly impact the rest of the project. Big or Small, Cohesion or Coupling It helps to set the stage for this discussion.  The decision comes down to e...

Object names and namespaces are just the beginning of creating a class architecture.  We need to consider globally available values, data hiding, abstraction, and how to group features.  The old "is-a" and "has-a" questions are essential cogs in building out this piece.  You will be looking for common pieces of data, methods, and how they should relate. A Goldie Locks Class Architecture It is incr...

Most modern business applications have some state or context.  This model can be easy to implement in a stand-alone application.  However, multi-user applications like web sites can be a challenge when you consider session management.  While security is often a hot topic, tracking data correctly can be an issue to itself.  We need to build our architecture to handle the ways we pass around such da...

One of the most substantial challenges in system development is the application programming interface.  The result is (ideally) a stable and well-defined interface for your system.  That can be a struggle when your solution is not exactly stable nor well-defined.  Nevertheless, that does not excuse you from ignoring the API until implementation.  It needs to be addressed in the architecture from t...

When we talk about creating an architecture for the future, integrations should always be a part of the discussion.  These include importing, exporting, and direct integrations via an API.  It is limiting to assume that an application will always stand on its own.  Even a solution that proves better than all others is served by providing a way for other application data to be brought in. Simple In...

System logs and logging is one of the least sexy things in software development.  Nevertheless, they are highly valuable.  The ultimate challenge in a logging architecture is balancing information with performance.  That is why you want to tackle this during the architecture process.  It is time-consuming when left until implementation or beyond. Where To Keep System Logs The architecture part of...

While the GUI is used for most of our user interaction, there are other methods to consider as well.  The areas of focus in this episode will be messages and notifications.  Much like other details of our solution, these need to be architected.  Our goal is to provide a consistent experience and easy use of these tools for implementation. Messages Of the two items in this episode, these are easier...

Hackers are everywhere .  Thus, security and authentication are essential pieces of software architecture.  There are so many common features of application security available it may seem like no real thought is needed.  You can just grab the essential features "off the shelf."  Nevertheless, there is much to nail down in architecting the best solution for your specific application. Start With Sec...

Systems and solutions will grow if they are successful.  Therefore, it is essential for us to consider whether this will be handled by scaling up or scaling out.  There are many ways that a solution will need to grow.  There can be limitations based on processing, storage, network, or other areas.  Each of these can grow in the same way or you can mix-and-max your way through these issues.  No mat...

Nearly every solution includes some manner of administrative tools.  These tools range from scripts and manual process steps to full graphical interfaces and wizards.  No matter the form these take, they must be considered as part of architecting a solution.  Their very nature is for it to work hand in glove with the architecture and design to manipulate data as needed. Low-End Administrative Tool...

No matter what we build, there is always a foundation of some sort.  In software, the core component architecture provides us that foundation.  These are the models or objects that provide the framework for all of the other functions.  When you design these core pieces of your solution, it is essential to get them right.  When you fail to do this, you will have problems throughout the system. It S...

The modern world is full of options to connect your app to the Internet.  Nevertheless, there are cases where you will have a sometimes connected application.  This situation impacts architecture and needs to be understood before starting.  "Sometimes" is a challenging situation to handle with your architecture.  Thus, it is easier to architect a solution that is always connected.  Better yet, one...

Architecture design can start at the back-end or the front-end.  In either case, you will end up architecting the user experience at some point.  The architecture will come out of the user interface and the controls you use.  It will be joined with the way you architect the visual portions of the application.  The result is more than look-and-feel and goes beyond designing some visual styles. Sett...

One of the architectural challenges that are often overlooked is large file storage.  These may be documents, images, or other general binary structures.  This situation is also becoming a much more common challenge for applications.  We often have a feature for storing a profile picture for users, PDF documents, or other similar features.  This area is something worth spending time on during the...

One of the rarest of decisions we are allowed to make is when it comes to selecting languages and frameworks or maybe even libraries for our project.  These decisions are often out of our control.  Thus, this is not something with which we may have any experience.  While we do have the options to do this for our personal applications, the larger ones usually are almost predetermined concerning the...

In no particular order, we will look at architecting the database as we continue our tour of software architecture from scratch.  There are several key considerations to keep in mind while doing this work.  A wrong decision or improper architectural choice can have a far-reaching impact as we build from the backend.  Here are some areas that we want to think through as we design our backend soluti...

Every journey starts somewhere.  When we architect a solution, we need to decide whether to start at the frontend or the backend.  There are pros and cons to each approach.  Therefore, we need to look at each project to help us determine which method is best.  Let's look at the strengths of each of these starting points. The Frontend Approach The frontend often feels like a comfortable way to star...

The decision of Agile vs Waterfall in software development is not often linked to architecture.  However, there is a difference in your approach that depends on the SDLC you choose.  This choice is one you will probably be asked to make when starting from scratch.  While not entirely the domain of the architect, this decision often seems to be driven by them. Agile vs Waterfall - Different Mindset...

We kick off the season on software architecture from scratch with an overview of what we will cover.  We also set the table for the assumptions we will make as we walk through our topics.  Each topic will cover an area or two of architecting software that we need to address when we start at the beginning.  These are not always rocket science.  However, details matter, and we need to keep them in m...

As we near the end of a decade, it is time to consider planning for the year ahead.  We need to consider the goals we want to achieve and how much better to be a year from now.  Here are some ideas to help you plot out your course. Improve Your Workspace Whether you work from home or an office, there are many ways you can improve your daily experience.  This can include hardware, office equipment...

We once again look at finishing strong .  Our steady efforts and incremental progress should result in year-end success.  However, there always seems to be a need for that final push.  No matter how well we plan, the final effort to get across the finish line is a staple of completing a project.  This episode is just a little help in cheering you to the end. Pace Out The Final Mile We may have mis...

As we start into our last week of the year, it is a good time for looking back.  Therefore, we think it is worthwhile to review what we proposed would be the big technical topics of 2019 .  The summary of that article is that we suggested five hot topics. Azure/Office 365 Amazon AWS Single-Sign-On/Security Virtual Machines/Containers Blockchain Solutions   Our Hits in Looking Back The good news is...