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Essential Software Architecture
Job titles like "Technical Architect" and "Chief Architect" nowadays abound in the software industry, yet many people suspect that "architecture" is one of the most overused and least understood terms in professional software development.
Gorton's book helps resolve this predicament. It concisely describes the essential elements of knowledge and key skills required to be a software architect. The explanations encompass the essentials of architecture thinking, practices, and supporting technologies. They range from a general understanding of software structure and quality attributes, through technical issues like middleware components and documentation techniques, to emerging technologies like model-driven architecture, software product lines, aspect-oriented design, service-oriented architectures, and the Semantic Web, all of which will influence future software system architectures.
All approaches are illustrated by an ongoing real-world example. So if you work as an architect or senior designer (or want to someday), or if you are a student in software engineering, here is a valuable and yet approachable source of knowledge.
"Ian's book helps us to head in the right direction through the various techniques and approaches... An essential guide to computer science students as well as developers and IT professionals who aspire to become an IT architect". (Anna Liu, Architect Advisor, Microsoft Australia)
Gorton's book helps resolve this predicament. It concisely describes the essential elements of knowledge and key skills required to be a software architect. The explanations encompass the essentials of architecture thinking, practices, and supporting technologies. They range from a general understanding of software structure and quality attributes, through technical issues like middleware components and documentation techniques, to emerging technologies like model-driven architecture, software product lines, aspect-oriented design, service-oriented architectures, and the Semantic Web, all of which will influence future software system architectures.
All approaches are illustrated by an ongoing real-world example. So if you work as an architect or senior designer (or want to someday), or if you are a student in software engineering, here is a valuable and yet approachable source of knowledge.
"Ian's book helps us to head in the right direction through the various techniques and approaches... An essential guide to computer science students as well as developers and IT professionals who aspire to become an IT architect". (Anna Liu, Architect Advisor, Microsoft Australia)
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 19, 2020
I am mostly a C++ developer and I found this book too focused on the Java ecosystem. Also, the style was too dry, bit a lot of buzzwords.
September 6, 2008
I am using this book in the course I am teaching at Villanova this semester. The first seven chapters cover the basics of software architecture in Dr. Gorton's concise style. A case study is used to illustrate concepts throughout those chapters. The latter chapters cover different hot topics in the software engineering field, like model-driven architecture, service-oriented architecture, etc., and were written by guest authors. I chose this book because of its recent publication date, its focus on middleware and the author's direct style.
Update - Feb. 2009 - What follows is an excerpt of my review of the book for my "course retrospective", which was written at the end of the semester:
"If I were to teach this course again, I would investigate other textbook candidates. The textbook used this semester was Dr. Ian Gorton’s Essential Software Architecture. I had selected this book for several reasons: recent publication date (2006), coverage of current/emerging trends, business solutions focus, realistic case study, concise writing style and availability as an e-book from the library. This book was fine and met our needs, particularly when supplemented with current online articles. However, I found that perhaps it is too concise for students just learning the material. Therefore a more traditional textbook with helpful educational aspects like key words, review questions, homework assignments and a glossary would be more beneficial to students."
One other point I would make is that the latter chapters of the book exhibit a high amount of variability in terms of the quality and tone of the writing. This is due to each chapter being written by a different author, and therefore isn't unexpected -- yet I found it distracting. In particular, inconsistencies in the amount of factual information and the manner in which it was presented posed a challenge when using this book in a classroom setting. Overall, though, Dr. Gorton is clearly an expert in the field, and his experience pervades the sound design advice he dispenses throughout the first half of the text.
Update - Feb. 2009 - What follows is an excerpt of my review of the book for my "course retrospective", which was written at the end of the semester:
"If I were to teach this course again, I would investigate other textbook candidates. The textbook used this semester was Dr. Ian Gorton’s Essential Software Architecture. I had selected this book for several reasons: recent publication date (2006), coverage of current/emerging trends, business solutions focus, realistic case study, concise writing style and availability as an e-book from the library. This book was fine and met our needs, particularly when supplemented with current online articles. However, I found that perhaps it is too concise for students just learning the material. Therefore a more traditional textbook with helpful educational aspects like key words, review questions, homework assignments and a glossary would be more beneficial to students."
One other point I would make is that the latter chapters of the book exhibit a high amount of variability in terms of the quality and tone of the writing. This is due to each chapter being written by a different author, and therefore isn't unexpected -- yet I found it distracting. In particular, inconsistencies in the amount of factual information and the manner in which it was presented posed a challenge when using this book in a classroom setting. Overall, though, Dr. Gorton is clearly an expert in the field, and his experience pervades the sound design advice he dispenses throughout the first half of the text.
May 6, 2018
Well written decent primer on software architecture concepts. The second edition is starting to show its age though. Maybe it's time for a third one?
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews