There are many software being designed and developed day-by-day. For a least common task of painting, we decide and make a design before painting. We think of colors, paper, pencils needed. And after a perfect planning, we start to paint. If we do this much for just a simple task of painting, how much preparation do we need to take before building software? After all, it involves huge amounts of money, time, effort, personnel, etc. So we need to consider certain aspects such as resources, staff, time, money, design blueprint, technologies, etc. before starting to build software. All of these are included in a concept called Software Architecture.
A software system that is structured at high-level, process of creating such designs, testing & implementing of such structures and finally documenting them is called as Software architecture. You need to reason about the software system as its purpose needs to be showcased, it is done through Software architecture.
What is Software Architecture?
To meet operational, technical requirements, a process is needed that defines a structured solution is referred to as Software architecture. It provides a high rate of functionality optimization such as security, performance, and manageability.
Based on different factors, series of decisions are taken for its implementation, and each of these decisions has a great impact on its functionalities such as maintainability, performance, quality and also the whole progress of the application or project.
Many developers and researchers such as Grady Booch, Rich Reitman, Philippe Kruchten, and Kurt Bittner have given their definition as follows
“The set of goals and decisions in building up the software system in an organization, which includes a system that is composed of the interfaces and the structural elements are included in this Software architecture. Not only that but also, the elements in collaboration, whose behavior is specified; to guide and run the organization, there is a need for an architectural style; and into larger subsystems, these behavioral and structural elements are combined. Some important aspects such as reuse, resilience, functionality, tradeoffs, aesthetic concerns, performance, comprehensibility, usability, technology and economic constraints, etc. are involved in software architecture”
Why is Architecture Important?
For every organization, there is a need of software architecture. Because who doesn’t want their product to be of a solid foundation and work properly without any complaints. To avoid long-term risks, failing of designs, failing to consider scenarios, etc. we use architecture for our application. It takes different resources, technologies to build software architecture. But now, it has become simpler; you have advanced platforms and tools that makes your work much easier.
You need to consider the goals and requirements of the System which mean IT infrastructure, user, and the business before building software. Important quality attributes such as scalability, reliability, usability, etc., emphasizing on key scenarios, and identifying main areas of dissatisfaction, satisfaction is to be considered by you always while building. To measure the progress and the success in each of these areas, it is necessary to consider, develop metrics.
