Software Design Principles: From Sketch to Final Product
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2024 4:40 am
In software development, the conception and design of the solution that solves the problem in question is the most important phase of all, as it will determine not only the success of the project, but also the future of the final product and its resilience to an ever-changing context. Every developer has a software architect within them, ready to develop as time goes by and participate in more projects, gaining experience from the mistakes made.
Architecture
A software development project begins with the identification of the problems to be solved and the listing of their functional and technical requirements . Based on these requirements, the solution design phase begins, which typically involves the design of a new architecture – or the application of a previously designed base architecture, which happens when the project is carried out in a software factory, where all products follow the same construction logic – and the selection of the most appropriate technologies. Only then does the development itself begin, followed by testing and, finally, the publication of the final result.
A developer will say that the most important phase of the development process is programming , but that is not true. The most important phase for the success of the project and the quality of the product is the kazakhstan whatsapp number database and design of the architecture . This is a task for software architects - those senior developers who have been through so many projects and made so many mistakes that they have become better able to identify the most appropriate approaches, the component scheme that will work best, the most suitable technologies - who can anticipate scenarios that will arise, not only during the project, but long after the product has entered maintenance and, above all, who are concerned with leaving paths open for the evolution of the product in the future.
Standard architectures
Designing a software architecture is never an exercise that starts from a blank sheet of paper.
Just as a bridge architect, for example, starts from a set of six well-known and proven designs , selects the one most suited to the problem and adapts it to the specific case, software architects also have at their disposal a set of base architectures , from which they can choose the starting point, most of the time depending on their experience and also on the technologies available.
Here are some of these standard architectures:
•Client-server
•Layered
•Component-based
•Data-centric
•Event-driven
•Pipes and filters
•Hexagonal
•Onion
•Service-oriented
•Microservices
Design principles
Just as design patterns establish reusable solutions to recurring (programming) problems, these standard architectures establish reusable solutions to software design problems (such as a complex system) that are recurring in certain contexts. In addition, they define the style of the solution, the approach adopted to solve the problems in question and, ultimately, the functional, technical and technological requirements of the project.
We can assume that an architectural style is to software design what a design pattern is to software programming . It is possible to use all design patterns, regardless of the architecture being used, with the exception of those patterns that are specific to a certain domain (such as microservices or user interface).
That said, what is really most relevant in these architectures, besides their suitability to the problem at hand? They are the principles that the specific architecture follows or values more, to the detriment of others, because it will be these fundamental ideas that, ultimately, will determine its success.
The success of an architecture is a direct measure of the quality of the final product, but also – and this is increasingly true, particularly in software factories – of its resilience, that is, its ability to endure over time, evolving when necessary, adapting to technological (r)evolutions and changes in the context (requirements), allowing the final product to be easy to maintain and to evolve itself.
This topic of best principles in software design is far from being fully systematized when compared to the topic of design patterns. Even so, it is possible to list a set of design principles that are more consensual and that are very present and marked in the design of the most modern frameworks and products.
Architecture
A software development project begins with the identification of the problems to be solved and the listing of their functional and technical requirements . Based on these requirements, the solution design phase begins, which typically involves the design of a new architecture – or the application of a previously designed base architecture, which happens when the project is carried out in a software factory, where all products follow the same construction logic – and the selection of the most appropriate technologies. Only then does the development itself begin, followed by testing and, finally, the publication of the final result.
A developer will say that the most important phase of the development process is programming , but that is not true. The most important phase for the success of the project and the quality of the product is the kazakhstan whatsapp number database and design of the architecture . This is a task for software architects - those senior developers who have been through so many projects and made so many mistakes that they have become better able to identify the most appropriate approaches, the component scheme that will work best, the most suitable technologies - who can anticipate scenarios that will arise, not only during the project, but long after the product has entered maintenance and, above all, who are concerned with leaving paths open for the evolution of the product in the future.
Standard architectures
Designing a software architecture is never an exercise that starts from a blank sheet of paper.
Just as a bridge architect, for example, starts from a set of six well-known and proven designs , selects the one most suited to the problem and adapts it to the specific case, software architects also have at their disposal a set of base architectures , from which they can choose the starting point, most of the time depending on their experience and also on the technologies available.
Here are some of these standard architectures:
•Client-server
•Layered
•Component-based
•Data-centric
•Event-driven
•Pipes and filters
•Hexagonal
•Onion
•Service-oriented
•Microservices
Design principles
Just as design patterns establish reusable solutions to recurring (programming) problems, these standard architectures establish reusable solutions to software design problems (such as a complex system) that are recurring in certain contexts. In addition, they define the style of the solution, the approach adopted to solve the problems in question and, ultimately, the functional, technical and technological requirements of the project.
We can assume that an architectural style is to software design what a design pattern is to software programming . It is possible to use all design patterns, regardless of the architecture being used, with the exception of those patterns that are specific to a certain domain (such as microservices or user interface).
That said, what is really most relevant in these architectures, besides their suitability to the problem at hand? They are the principles that the specific architecture follows or values more, to the detriment of others, because it will be these fundamental ideas that, ultimately, will determine its success.
The success of an architecture is a direct measure of the quality of the final product, but also – and this is increasingly true, particularly in software factories – of its resilience, that is, its ability to endure over time, evolving when necessary, adapting to technological (r)evolutions and changes in the context (requirements), allowing the final product to be easy to maintain and to evolve itself.
This topic of best principles in software design is far from being fully systematized when compared to the topic of design patterns. Even so, it is possible to list a set of design principles that are more consensual and that are very present and marked in the design of the most modern frameworks and products.