Delve into software architecture, exploring key principles, patterns, and quality attributes. Gain insights with case studies and projects, enhancing your practical skills in system design and optimization.

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This course offers a deep dive into the world of software architecture. It’s designed to equip software developers and architects with the knowledge and skills necessary to create, evaluate, and optimize software systems. The course covers a range of critical topics to ensure a strong foundation in architectural principles and strategies.

You will start by exploring architectural concepts and the relationship between quality attributes, requirements, and architectural styles. You’ll also examine different architectural patterns and strategies, including centralized and decentralized architecture, layered pattern, broker pattern, and microservices. Then, you’ll go into the details of important quality attributes needed while developing an architecture.

The course is equipped with multiple case studies and two projects to further enhance learning. These real-world scenarios and hands-on projects are strategically incorporated to give learners practical insights.

Software Architecture in Applications

# Overview

A website or application created as a single, self-contained entity is referred to as a **monolithic architecture**. The website's components, including the user interface, business logic, and data storage, are all tightly connected and interdependent.

 
This approach to web architecture has been popular for many years because it can be relatively simple to develop and deploy a monolithic application. However, as websites and applications have become more complex and scalable, other architecture patterns, such as microservices and serverless, have gained popularity for their ability to handle these challenges more effectively.

# Advantages of monolithic architecture
There are several advantages of using a monolithic architecture. These include the following:
 
+ **Simplicity:** Monolithic architecture is relatively simple to understand and implement because all of the components of the application are contained in a single codebase. This can make it easier for developers to work on and understand the application as a whole.
 
+ **Ease of deployment:** Because all of the components of the application are contained in a single package, it's relatively easy to deploy a monolithic application. This can be particularly useful for small or medium-sized applications that don't require a highly scalable or complex architecture.
 
+ **Ease of testing:** Because all of the components of a monolithic application are closely interconnected, it can be relatively easy to test the application as a whole. This can save time and effort compared to testing a more complex, distributed architecture.

+ **Better performance:** Applications with a monolithic architecture typically have better performance because everything is in place and strongly connected.

# Disadvantages of monolithic architecture
However, there are also several disadvantages of using a monolithic architecture. These include the following:
 
+ **Difficulty scaling:** As the size and complexity of an application increases, it can become more difficult to scale a monolithic architecture. This is because all of the components of the application are tightly coupled, meaning that changes to one component can affect the others. This can make it difficult to add new features or scale the application without significantly modifying the entire codebase.
 
+ **Difficulty maintaining:** As the size and complexity of an application increases, it can become more difficult to maintain a monolithic architecture. This is because all of the components of the application are tightly coupled, meaning that changes to one component can affect the others. This can make it difficult to update or modify the application without significantly modifying the entire codebase.
 
+ **Limited flexibility:** Because all of the components of a monolithic application are tightly coupled, it can be more difficult to reuse or repurpose individual components for other projects. This can limit the flexibility of the application and make it more difficult to adapt to changing requirements or technologies.

+ **Commit to a particular technology:** Such applications require a commitment to a particular programming language and technology stack. If the application is to be migrated to a different technology, the entire application needs to be rewritten.

# When to use monolithic architecture

Monolithic architecture is most suitable for small or medium-sized applications that don't require a highly scalable or complex architecture. It can be a good choice for applications that are relatively simple and don't require frequent updates or modifications.
 
However, as the size and complexity of an application increase, it might be more appropriate to consider other architecture patterns, such as microservices or serverless, which are better suited to handle the challenges of scalability and maintainability.

# Code example

Let's take a quick look at code that depicts a monolithic architecture. 

Get an overview of monolithic architecture, along with its pros and cons. 

Getting Started

The Architecture Meta-Frame

Architectural Styles and Strategies

Architectural Styles and Strategies

Scalability

Availability

Load Balancing

A Basic Load Balancer

Security

Caching

Web Architecture

Case Studies

A Basic MVC Data Flow

Conclusion

Monolithic Architecture

Overview

Advantages of monolithic architecture