Software architect

en:Software architect

Lede

A software architect is someone who performs high-level design work on computer software, typically at a whole system or large application level. In an organization where multiple such individuals operate, the lead individal is referred to as the chief architect.

History

The software architect concept goes back at least to Fred Brooks, author of 'The Mythical Man Month' who was designer of the highly successful System 360/370 software architecture in the mid 1960s. Subsequently the commercial job title began to appear in wage labor markets but this was a generation later and contrary to what is stated in the English wiki, had relatively little to do with the dominance of OOP which wasn't substantial until the mid 1990s. OOP does join threads of computer history such as structured programming in calling for improved design based on its paradigm but this is distinct from the activity of architecting systems and it's false that the two have actually been joined as the article there stated when this one was drafted.

Duties

Architects make high-level design choices based on their judgment and experience. An architect should have thought through all the important aspects of the target, a duty of an kind of architect. In addition, the architect may sometimes dictate technical standards, including coding standards, tools, or platforms.

Software architects may also be engaged in the design of the architecture of the hardware environment, may focus entirely on the design methodology of the software, or have some other specific charter.

Architects may use various patterns and indeed design patterns originated in (traditional) architecture.

Related Job Titles

Other similar titles in use, but without consensus on their exact meaning, include:

• en:Solution architect, which may refer to a person directly involved in advancing a particular business solution needing interactions between multiple applications. May also refer to an application architect.
• System architect (singular), which is often used as a synonym for en:application architect. However, if one subscribes to Systems theory and the idea that an enterprise can be a system, then System Architect could also mean enterprise architect.
• en:Systems architect (plural), which is often used as a synonym for enterprise architect or solution architect.

Architect type	Strategic thinking	System interactions	Communication	Design
en:enterprise architect	across projects	highly abstracted	across organization	minimal, high level
solutions architect	focused on solution	very detailed	multiple teams	detailed
application architect	component re-use, maintainability	centered on single application	single project	very detailed

The table above is a characterisation of some job titles vs job description from the original article.

See also

• en:Electrical engineering
• en:Electronics engineering
• en:Electronics engineering
• en:Hardware architecture / en:hardware architect
• en:Requirements analysis / en:requirements engineer
• en:Software architectural model
• en:Software architecture
• en:Software engineering / en:software engineer
• en:Systems architecture / en:systems architect
• en:Systems design
• en:Systems engineering / en:systems engineer

References

External links

• International Association of Software Architects (IASA)