Jekyll2026-04-15T13:52:10+00:00http://fundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.com/feed.xmlfundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.comCompanion site for the book Fundamentals of Software Architecture by Mark Richards and Neal Ford.The Dimensions of Software Architecture2020-08-31T00:00:00+00:002020-08-31T00:00:00+00:00http://fundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.com/2020/08/31/FFF-for-25-Sept-2020We like to think of “software architecture” as consisting of 4 dimensions - the architecture characteristics (“-ilities”) that are important, the architecture components (logical building blocks), the architecture styles that are used, and finally the architecture decisions that are made specific to that architecture.

In this free Q&A forum on September 25, 2020 at 9:30 AM ET we will discuss these dimensions and entertain related questions.

Register Here!

]]>Foundations Fridays Forum for 28 August 2020: The Intersection of Architecture and Data2020-08-08T00:00:00+00:002020-08-08T00:00:00+00:00http://fundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.com/2020/08/08/FFF-for-28-aug-2020-data_n_arch

Too many times, architects ignore the critical data aspects of projects or brush them aside as an “afterthought”.

In this FREE Q&A session we will discuss the importance of data as it relates to architecture.

Register here to join us and be sure to invite some friends!

]]>Foundations Friday Forum on 26 June 2020: The Many Faces of Microkernel2020-06-02T00:00:00+00:002020-06-02T00:00:00+00:00http://fundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.com/2020/06/02/FFF-for-June26-2020-Many-Faces-of-Microkernel

We know that a certain type of micro architecture excites a lot of architects, but in the upcoming Foundations Fridays Forum on June 26th, we talk about the Microkernel architecture style (also known as a plug-in architecture). Microkernel shows up everywhere once you understand how the pieces fit together–it is surprisingly versatile, appearing in many commercial and open source tools. It’s also incredibly useful for any system that requires high degrees of customizability. However, when pushed too far, it can exhibit bad behaviors.

For a quick overview of Micro-kernel and the many uses (sometimes surprising) for this often neglected but powerful architectural style, join us on June 26, 2020 at 9:30am ET for the free Q&A based forum on software architecture.

Register Here!

]]>Foundations Friday Forum on July 31, 2020: Why Would I Build a Monolith in 2020?2020-06-02T00:00:00+00:002020-06-02T00:00:00+00:00http://fundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.com/2020/06/02/FFF-for-July31-why-monolith

In an online class the other day, one of the students expressed outrage that we suggested that the monolithic architecture style–functionality deployed as a single unit with a coupled relational database–was still viable. We preceded to list off several different (good) reasons why a 21st century software architect might choose a monolithic architecture.

Join us on Friday, July 31st 2020 at 9:30 AM ET for a FREE question-and-answer session, Foundations Fridays Forum, to answer this question and many others. We’ll describe the two prevalent monolithic architecture styles and what tradeoffs–bad and good–exist in this commonest architecture style. How many good reasons can you think of? Join and let us know.

Register Here!

]]>Foundations Friday Forum, May 29 2020: Architecture Characteristics2020-05-29T00:00:00+00:002020-05-29T00:00:00+00:00http://fundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.com/2020/05/29/FFF-for-May-29-2020architecture_characteristics

Join Mark Richards (@markrichardssa) and Neal Ford (@neal4d) on Friday, May 29th at 09:30-10:00 ET for a free, half hour question-and-answer driven discussion about architecture characteristics.

Many architects and developers know architecture characteristics as non-functional requirements, system quality attributes, and/or cross-cutting requirements; we don’t care for any of those names (and we’ll explain why). Yet, understanding how to discover, govern, and design around architecture characteristics (such as performance, scalability, security, and a host of others) represents one of the key critical design skills for architects.

Join us for this free Q&A driven discussion.

Click here for registration…

…and please feel free to spread the word far and wide with this link: https://bit.ly/2zY4fb0

Hope to see you there!

Neal & Mark, pairing

]]>Announcing Foundations Friday Forum2020-05-20T00:00:00+00:002020-05-20T00:00:00+00:00http://fundamentalsofsoftwarearchitecture.com/2020/05/20/Announcing-Foundations-Friday-ForumAnnouncing Foundations Friday Form

The authors of Fundamentals of Software Architecture, Mark Richards and Neal Ford, often answer questions and generally network with other architects at in-person events, which are sadly on hold at the moment. Thus, to provide another benefit to the existing and growing software architecture community, we’re hosting Foundations Fridays Forum, a free topic-based question and answer session each month on a Friday. We set the topic; you come armed with questions. Keep an eye on this space for upcoming dates and topics.

Please spread the word–and we hope to see you in the Forum on Friday! We’ll post topics and dates here on a regular basis.

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