CPSA-F: Software Architecture Fundamentals

• iSAQB Certified Professional for Software Architecture - Foundation Level (CPSA-F) certification focuses on fundamental knowledge of software architecture.
• It covers concepts, methods, and best practices for designing and documenting software architectures.
• The certification is aimed at software developers, architects, and anyone involved in software design.

Software Architecture Fundamentals

• Software architecture defines the fundamental organization of a software system, embodied in its components, their relationships to each other and to the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution.
• Key concerns include system structure, behavior, interaction, and non-functional requirements.
• Architecture enables communication among stakeholders, reduces complexity, and facilitates reuse.

Technical Context

• Understanding the technical context is crucial for designing effective architectures.
• This involves analyzing technical constraints, available technologies, and the development environment.
• Considerations include performance requirements, security constraints, scalability needs, and platform limitations.

Architectural Patterns and Styles

• Architectural patterns are reusable solutions to commonly occurring problems in software design.
• Examples include layered architecture, microservices, and event-driven architecture.
• Architectural styles define a family of systems, sharing a common vocabulary of components and connectors, with constraints on how they can be combined.
• Styles include object-oriented, client-server, and message-oriented architectures.

Architecture Documentation

• Architecture documentation captures the design decisions, rationale, and structure of a software system.
• It serves as a communication tool for stakeholders and a blueprint for development.
• Documentation should include views of the architecture, such as logical, development, process, and physical views.
• The "4+1" view model is a common approach to architecture documentation.

Architecture Communication

• Effective communication is essential for successful software architecture.
• Architects need to communicate with stakeholders, development teams, and other architects.
• Communication methods include diagrams, documents, presentations, and meetings.
• It is important to tailor the communication to the audience and purpose.

Architecture Evaluation

• Architecture evaluation assesses the quality and suitability of a software architecture.
• It helps identify potential risks and areas for improvement.
• Evaluation methods include scenario-based evaluation, architecture reviews, and attribute-driven design.
• Common quality attributes assessed include performance, security, reliability, and usability.

Quality Attributes

• Quality attributes, also known as non-functional requirements, define the desired characteristics of a software system.
• Examples include performance, security, reliability, usability, maintainability, and scalability.
• Quality attributes should be measurable and testable.
• Trade-offs between different quality attributes often need to be considered.

Architecture Design Process

• The architecture design process involves a series of activities aimed at creating a suitable architecture for a software system.
• Key activities include requirements analysis, architecture design, architecture evaluation, and implementation guidance.
• Iterative and incremental approaches are commonly used in architecture design.
• The process should be tailored to the specific project and context.

Scope of Architecture

• Defining the scope of the architecture is critical for managing complexity and focusing efforts.
• The scope should align with the system boundaries and key stakeholders.
• Considerations include the system's functionality, interfaces, and interactions with other systems.

Stakeholder Needs

• Understanding stakeholder needs is essential for designing successful architectures.
• Stakeholders include users, developers, operators, and business owners.
• Architects need to elicit and prioritize stakeholder requirements.
• Conflicting stakeholder needs may require trade-offs.

Principles

• Architectural principles are guiding statements that inform design decisions and promote consistency.
• Examples include separation of concerns, single responsibility, and open/closed principle.
• Principles should be aligned with the overall goals and values of the organization.

Patterns vs. Tactics

• Architectural patterns are proven solutions to recurring design problems, providing a high-level structure.
• Architectural tactics are specific design decisions that influence a single quality attribute.
• Tactics are more granular than patterns and can be combined to achieve desired quality attribute levels.

Anti-Patterns

• Anti-patterns are common solutions to recurring problems that are ineffective and may result in negative consequences.
• Recognizing and avoiding anti-patterns is important for designing robust and maintainable architectures.
• Examples include the "Big Ball of Mud" and "Golden Hammer" anti-patterns.

Technical Debt

• Technical debt represents the implied cost of rework caused by choosing an easy solution now instead of a better approach that would take longer.
• Accumulating excessive technical debt can negatively impact maintainability, performance, and security.
• Managing technical debt involves identifying, prioritizing, and addressing it proactively.

Agility and Architecture

• Agile development emphasizes iterative and incremental development, with a focus on responding to change.
• Architecture plays a critical role in enabling agility by providing a stable and flexible foundation.
• Evolutionary architecture allows the architecture to evolve over time, adapting to changing requirements and technologies.
• Architects in agile environments need to collaborate closely with development teams and stakeholders.

Microservices

• Microservices architecture structures an application as a collection of loosely coupled, independently deployable services.
• Each service is responsible for a specific business capability.
• Microservices enable scalability, flexibility, and faster development cycles.
• Challenges include increased complexity, distributed tracing, and managing inter-service communication.

Domain-Driven Design (DDD)

• Domain-Driven Design is an approach to software development that focuses on modeling the domain knowledge and aligning the software with the business domain.
• Key concepts include ubiquitous language, bounded contexts, and aggregates.
• DDD can inform architectural decisions and help create more maintainable and scalable systems.

Cloud Architecture

• Cloud architecture involves designing and deploying software applications and services in a cloud environment.
• Cloud environments offer scalability, elasticity, and cost-effectiveness.
• Considerations include choosing the right cloud platform, designing for resilience, and managing security.

Security Architecture

• Security architecture focuses on designing and implementing security controls to protect software systems and data.
• Key principles include defense in depth, least privilege, and secure coding practices.
• Security architects need to consider various threats and vulnerabilities, such as malware, hacking, and data breaches.

Performance Architecture

• Performance architecture focuses on designing and optimizing software systems to meet performance requirements.
• Key activities include performance modeling, load testing, and optimization techniques.
• Performance architects need to consider factors such as CPU utilization, memory usage, and network latency.

Maintainability

• Maintainability is the ease with which a software system can be modified, corrected, or adapted to meet new requirements.
• Architectural decisions can significantly impact maintainability.
• Modular design, loose coupling, and clear documentation are important for achieving high maintainability.

Evolution

• Software architectures need to evolve over time to adapt to changing requirements, technologies, and business needs.
• Evolutionary architecture supports incremental changes and minimizes disruption to existing systems.
• Architects need to plan for evolution and anticipate future changes.