AthArvA-188 Software Architecture
A structured approach to software design that prioritises maintainability, testability, and scalability. Covers pattern selection, SOLID principles, architecture evaluation, and refactoring toward better design.
Core Principles
SOLID (apply to every design decision)
- Single Responsibility: one class/module = one reason to change
- Open/Closed: open for extension, closed for modification
- Liskov Substitution: subtypes must be substitutable for their base types
- Interface Segregation: many specific interfaces > one general interface
- Dependency Inversion: depend on abstractions, not concretions
Architecture Layers (Clean Architecture)
Entities (domain objects, business rules)
↑
Use Cases (application business logic)
↑
Interface Adapters (controllers, presenters, gateways)
↑
Frameworks & Drivers (databases, web frameworks, UI)
The dependency rule: inner layers must not know about outer layers. Data flows inward; dependencies point inward.
Pattern Selection Guide
| Problem | Pattern | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Complex object creation | Factory / Builder | When construction logic is non-trivial |
| Need single shared instance | Singleton | Rare — prefer dependency injection |
| Notify many objects of state change | Observer / Event Bus | Decoupling producers from consumers |
| Vary behaviour at runtime | Strategy | Swappable algorithms |
| Wrap incompatible interfaces | Adapter | Legacy integration |
| Simplify complex subsystem | Facade | Reducing interface surface area |
| Separate query from command | CQRS | Read-heavy or write-heavy systems |
| Rebuild state from events | Event Sourcing | Audit trails, temporal queries |
| Decentralise data management | Microservices | When teams need independent deployments |
Evaluation Framework
When reviewing an existing architecture, ask:
- Testability: can the business logic be tested without the database, UI, or network?
- Changeability: can you swap the database or framework without touching business logic?
- Readability: can a new engineer understand what a module does from its name and public interface?
- Cohesion: are things that change together, grouped together?
- Coupling: can a module be changed without rippling through unrelated modules?
Score each 1-5. Anything below 3 on testability or changeability is a priority refactor target.
Common Anti-Patterns to Flag
- Anemic domain model: domain objects are just data bags; business logic is scattered in services
- God class: one class knows too much about too many things
- Feature envy: a method that uses another class's data more than its own
- Spaghetti dependencies: circular imports or hidden coupling through global state
- Premature abstraction: interfaces for things that only have one implementation
- Leaky abstractions: infrastructure concerns bleeding into business logic
Output Modes
Design a new system
Provide: requirements, constraints (scale, team size, deployment model), existing tech stack. Output: layer diagram, key interfaces, data flow, technology recommendations with rationale.
Review existing code
Provide: the code or description of the current structure. Output: SOLID violations found, pattern suggestions, refactoring roadmap ordered by impact.
Explain a pattern
Provide: the pattern name and your current understanding. Output: plain language explanation, concrete code example in your language, when to use vs. when to avoid.
Tips
- Start with testability. If business logic can't be unit-tested in isolation, the architecture is wrong regardless of what patterns are used.
- Clean Architecture is a direction, not a destination. Every codebase lives on a spectrum — the goal is continuous improvement, not perfection.
- Before recommending a pattern, ask: does the current code actually have the problem this pattern solves? Over-engineering is a real cost.