Types of Software Architecture Patterns and Which One To Choose In 2024

Title image for the blog of types of software architecture patterns and which one to choose in 2024

Choosing the right software architecture patterns is critical in this constantly changing field of software development. As the year proceeds to 2024, let us take a closer look at the types of software architecture and how to go about selecting the most appropriate one. In this guide, you will be able to learn about various architectural patterns, when they can be applied, and how you can make the right choices regarding your software architecture design patterns.

What is Software Architecture?

Specifically, software architecture consists of the fundamental elements that make up a software system and the process of building those elements and systems. It involves the structuring of a system, the interactions between the components or elements and rules governing the creation and change of the structure. Software architectural design provides the initial solution baseline for other features, including performance, scalability, maintainability and security.

The choice of architectural style is crucial. It determines how optimally it can scale up the loading resist changes and interconnectivity with other systems. When a project continues to evolve, it is always important to have a strong architecture that will continue to remain viable in the future.

Software Architecture Patterns vs. Design Patterns

Even though both are often referred to as the same, software architecture patterns and design patterns relate to different layers of software architecture.

  • Software Architecture Pattern: These structures provide the general organization or architecture of a given software system. They deal with the system at a macro level by focusing on parameters such as scalability and performance and offer a blueprint of the application.
  • Design Pattern: These are even more specific to general issues within a given module or component of the software. They improve code reuse and modularity, particularly addressing design at the micro level within classes or modules.

Exploring Architectural Patterns

There are numerous software architecture types, each with its unique benefits and drawbacks. Here, we explore some of the most prevalent ones:

Layered Pattern

  • Description: Organizes software into horizontal layers, each responsible for different functionalities, such as presentation, business logic, and data storage.
  • Use Cases: Common in web applications, e-commerce platforms, and content management systems.
  • Drawbacks: This can lead to performance issues due to communication overhead between layers and may become complex with many layers.

Client-Server Pattern

  • Description: It divides applications into clients (user interfaces) and servers (data processing), which is ideal for distributed systems.
  • Use Cases: Email systems, online gaming, and remote file storage.
  • Drawbacks: Scalability challenges and potential single points of failure.

 

Coder using software architecture patterns on laptop

 

Event-Driven Pattern

  • Description: Components communicate through asynchronous events suited for real-time systems and GUIs.
  • Use Cases: Social media platforms, stock trading systems, and smart home systems.
  • Drawbacks: Can be complex to debug and may lead to convoluted architectures if overused.

Microkernel Pattern

  • Description: Separates core functionality from optional features, allowing for easy expansion through plugins.
  • Use Cases: Text editors with plugins, web browsers with extensions, and music players with skins.
  • Drawbacks: Potential overhead in communication between core and plugins.

Microservices Pattern

  • Description: Structures applications are a collection of small, independently deployable services that enable scalability.
  • Use Cases: E-commerce marketplaces, ride-sharing applications, and streaming platforms.
  • Drawbacks: Complexity in managing a distributed architecture and ensuring data consistency.

Broker Pattern

  • Description: Implements a broker in the middle of the communication between distributed components in order to increase the level of decoupling.
  • Use Cases: Interactive financial markets data feed, Messaging or Queuing platforms, and IoT connectivity platforms.
  • Drawbacks: The broker can become a single point of failure service and it may cause latency in the service.

Event-Bus Pattern

  • Description: Components interact primarily through an event bus, in which a component sends out an event and others subscribe to the event.
  • Use Cases: Video games, checkouts on online selling websites, and the efficiency of the organizational workflow.
  • Drawbacks: Debugging is not always easy and correct ordering of events can be very confusing at times.

Pipe-Filter Pattern

  • Description: Data is passed through filters within a pipeline so that it may be processed.
  • Use Cases: Image processing and Audio signal processing, Data extraction, transformation, and loading.
  • Drawbacks: It can be challenging to oversee filters and their relations as well as the interacting pipelines between them.

Blackboard Pattern

  • Description: Expert agents operate cooperatively with other agents, submitting solutions to a common data base which are used for additional analysis.
  • Use Cases: It is applicable in medical diagnosis whereby physicians use images to diagnose a condition, scientific data analysis and natural language processing.
  • Drawbacks: Is not very easy to create and especially to coordinate and administer.

Component-Based Pattern

  • Description: Divides software into components that can be reused and these components have clear interfaces.
  • Use Cases: Illustration and graphics tools, GUI builders, and account & finance applications.
  • Drawbacks: When there are too many dependencies, there are usually dependency management issues that are encountered.

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

  • Description: Applications are made up of services that are connected via a network with each coming as a single complete unit.
  • Use Cases: Enterprise systems and integration with e-/legacy systems.
  • Drawbacks: Several design and managerial intricacies and high overhead costs for inter-AS communication.

Monolithic Architecture

  • Description: All elements are well coupled, which means that all of them are implemented in one code base.
  • Use Cases: Simple Web-based small and medium-scale applications for proof of concept and pilot/incremental projects.
  • Drawbacks: Non-scalable and complex maintenance.

Space-Based Architecture

  • Description: Data and information processing is divided into many nodes in a large networking grid like architecture.
  • Use Cases: HPC applications include real-time analytics, high-compute-intensity, and multiplayer online games.
  • Drawbacks: Lots of infringements in implementation and management, possible problems with the quantity and quality of network latency.

 

Benefits of software architecture patterns explained in an image

 

Peer-to-Peer Architecture

  • Description: Nodes are much like the clients and servers who provide each other with the requisite resources.
  • Use Cases: Peer-to-peer distribution of files, distributed ledgers and databases, and communication platforms.
  • Drawbacks: Security-Scale issues.

Hybrid Architecture

  • Description: Adapts more than one architectural pattern to satisfy the requirements of the given system.
  • Use Cases: Large-scale businesses, web-based projects, and real-time data processing.
  • Drawbacks: This means integration challenges and complexity.

Selection of the Right Architecture Pattern for Software

Choosing the best software architecture pattern depends on the project’s needs, scalability and proficiency level of the personnel. Consider the following factors:

  1. Scalability Requirements: In projects expecting fast growth, which should be the case to start using something new, patterns such as microservices and space-based architecture are the most suitable.
  2. Development Speed: It is nonetheless beneficial for those that require fast creation and launching of applications, even if they are not agile at scale.
  3. Complexity Management: In large, complicated structures, patterns such as SOA and microservice serve the organization and planar traits.
  4. Performance Needs: Application types such as high-performance ones are serviced by epochs like the event-driven epoch or space-based epoch.

Thus, whenever you are considering those factors or other architectural patterns, you should be clear on what you want for your specific project.

Conclusion

Selecting the appropriate software architecture pattern remains one of the most crucial factors in achieving success in software development projects in 2024. Regardless of whether you select the monolithic approach, microservices, or a combination of the two, it will be crucial for you to know the benefits as well as the drawbacks of the particular type of software architecture.

If you want to read more blogs like this then visit our blog.

 

 

 

Sign up for SkillGigs Newsletter and Stay Ahead of the Curve

Subscribe today to get the latest healthcare industry updates

In order to get your your quiz results, please fill out the following information!

In order to get your your quiz results, please fill out the following information!