Software Engineering · Advanced

Software Architecture

A complete production-focused course covering how to design, evaluate, document, secure, scale, operate, and evolve modern software systems.

15 chapters75 pages

Complete curriculum

Choose a chapter

Every chapter and subtopic has its own detailed, indexable URL.

11. Architecture FoundationsUnderstand architecture, trade-offs, boundaries, and the decisions that shape systems over time.Open chapter

4 lessons

Architecture Thinking Quality Attributes & Trade-offs Constraints, Assumptions & Risks Core Architecture Principles

22. Requirements & Architecture DriversTurn product requirements into measurable quality attributes, constraints, capacity assumptions, and architectural drivers.Open chapter

4 lessons

Functional Requirements Non-Functional Requirements Architecture Drivers Capacity Planning & Estimation

33. Architecture Styles & PatternsLearn layered architecture, modular monoliths, microservices, event-driven systems, and how to choose between them.Open chapter

4 lessons

Layered Architecture Modular Monolith Microservices Architecture Event-Driven Architecture

44. Domain Modeling & BoundariesModel business domains, bounded contexts, aggregates, and dependency boundaries.Open chapter

4 lessons

Domain Modeling Bounded Contexts Domain-Driven Design Dependency Boundaries

55. Components, APIs & ContractsDesign components, APIs, contracts, compatibility rules, RPC, and messaging interfaces.Open chapter

4 lessons

Component Design REST API Architecture API Contracts & Compatibility gRPC, Messaging & Integration

66. Data ArchitectureDesign data ownership, transactions, caching, schema evolution, backups, and recovery.Open chapter

4 lessons

Data Ownership & Boundaries Transactions & Consistency Caching Architecture Schema Evolution, Migrations & Recovery

77. Distributed SystemsUnderstand partial failure, retries, idempotency, consistency, sagas, and distributed workflows.Open chapter

4 lessons

Distributed Failure Modes Timeouts, Retries & Idempotency Consistency Models Distributed Transactions & Sagas

88. Secure ArchitectureDesign trust boundaries, authentication, authorization, secrets, encryption, and API security.Open chapter

4 lessons

Trust Boundaries & Threat Modeling Authentication & Authorization Architecture Secrets, Encryption & Key Management API Security & Abuse Prevention

99. Reliability & ResilienceBuild systems that tolerate failures through redundancy, graceful degradation, recovery, and resilience patterns.Open chapter

4 lessons

Availability & Reliability Resilience Patterns Disaster Recovery Graceful Degradation & Recovery

1010. Scalability & PerformancePlan capacity and design scaling, latency budgets, caching, CDNs, and global architectures.Open chapter

4 lessons

Horizontal & Vertical Scaling Capacity Planning Performance Architecture CDN, Edge & Geographic Architecture

1111. Architecture Testing & VerificationValidate architectural boundaries and quality attributes with automated tests and fitness functions.Open chapter

4 lessons

Test Strategy & Test Pyramid Contract Testing Architecture Fitness Functions Performance & Security Verification

1212. Observability & OperationsDesign structured logging, metrics, tracing, SLOs, alerting, and operational visibility.Open chapter

4 lessons

Structured Logging Metrics & SLOs Distributed Tracing Alerting & Incident Signals

1313. Deployment & Delivery ArchitectureDesign environments, CI/CD, deployment strategies, infrastructure, rollbacks, and progressive delivery.Open chapter

4 lessons

Environments & Configuration CI/CD Architecture Deployment Strategies Infrastructure Architecture

1414. Architecture Governance & EvolutionUse ADRs, evolutionary architecture, technical-debt management, and team ownership to keep systems healthy.Open chapter

4 lessons

Architecture Decision Records Evolutionary Architecture Technical Debt & Architecture Health Team Topology & Ownership

1515. Architecture CapstoneApply the entire course to a realistic production system from requirements through launch and evolution.Open chapter

4 lessons

Capstone: Requirements & Architecture Drivers Capstone: Complete System Design Capstone: Architecture Review & Trade-offs Capstone: Production Readiness