An architectural pattern is a general, reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in

software architecture Software architecture is the fundamental structure of a software system and the discipline of creating such structures and systems. Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them, and properties of both elements and relations. ...

within a given context. The architectural patterns address various issues in

software engineering Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...

, such as

computer hardware Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the computer case, case, central processing unit (CPU), Random-access memory, random access memory (RAM), Computer monitor, monitor, Computer mouse, mouse, Computer keyboard, ...

performance limitations,

high availability High availability (HA) is a characteristic of a system which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period. Modernization has resulted in an increased reliance on these systems. Fo ...

and minimization of a

business risk The term business risks refers to the possibility of a commercial business making inadequate profits (or even losses) due to uncertainties - for example: changes in tastes, changing preferences of consumers, strikes, increased competition, changes ...

. Some architectural patterns have been implemented within

software framework In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, providing generic functionality, can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. It provides a standard ...

s. The use of the word "pattern" in the software industry was influenced by similar concepts as expressed in traditional

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, such as

Christopher Alexander Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an Austrian-born British-American architect and design theorist. He was an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His theories about the nature o ...

's ''

A Pattern Language ''A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction'' is a 1977 book on architecture, urban design, and community livability. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Struc ...

'' (1977) which discussed the practice in terms of establishing a pattern lexicon, prompting the practitioners of computer science to contemplate their own design lexicon. Usage of this

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

within the software engineering profession became commonplace after the publication of ''

Design Patterns ''Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software'' (1994) is a software engineering book describing software design patterns. The book was written by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides, with a foreword ...

'' (1994) by

Erich Gamma Erich Gamma is a Swiss computer scientist and one of the four co-authors (referred to as "Gang of Four") of the software engineering textbook, '' Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software''. Gamma is an expert in the Eclipse ...

Richard Helm Richard Helm is one of the "Gang of Four" who wrote the influential ''Design Patterns'' book. In 2006 he was awarded the Dahl–Nygaard Prize The Dahl–Nygaard Prize is awarded annually to a senior researcher with outstanding career contributions ...

, Ralph Johnson, and

John Vlissides John Matthew Vlissides (August 2, 1961 – November 24, 2005) was a software engineer known mainly as one of the four authors (referred to as the Gang of Four) of the book '' Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software''. Vliss ...

—now commonly known as the "Gang of Four"—coincident with the early years of the public

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, marking the onset of complex software systems "eating the world" and the corresponding need to codify the rapidly sprawling world of software development at the deepest possible level, while remaining flexible and adaptive. Architectural patterns are similar to

software design pattern In software engineering, a software design pattern is a general, reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context in software design. It is not a finished design that can be transformed directly into source or machine code ...

s but have a broader scope.

Definition

Even though an architectural pattern conveys an image of a system, it is not an architecture. An architectural pattern is a concept that solves and delineates some essential cohesive elements of a software architecture. Countless different architectures may implement the same pattern and share the related characteristics. Patterns are often defined as "strictly described and commonly available".

Architectural style

Following traditional building architecture, a 'software

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

' is a specific method of construction, characterized by the features that make it notable. Some treat architectural patterns and architectural styles as the same, some treat styles as specializations of patterns. What they have in common is both patterns and styles are idioms for architects to use, they "provide a common language" or "vocabulary" with which to describe classes of systems. The main difference is that a pattern can be seen as a solution to a problem, while a style is more general and does not require a problem to solve for its appearance.

Examples

Here is a list of architecture patterns, and corresponding

s and solution patterns. Some additional examples of architectural patterns: *

Blackboard system A blackboard system is an artificial intelligence approach based on the blackboard architectural model, where a common knowledge base, the "blackboard", is iteratively updated by a diverse group of specialist knowledge sources, starting with a pro ...

* Broker pattern *

Event-driven architecture Event-driven architecture (EDA) is a software architecture paradigm promoting the production, detection, consumption of, and reaction to events. Overview An ''event'' can be defined as "a significant change in state". For example, when a consumer p ...

Implicit invocation Implicit invocation is a term used by some authors for a style of software architecture in which a system is structured around event handling, using a form of callback. It is closely related to inversion of control and what is known informally a ...

Layers Layer or layered may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Layers'' (Kungs album) * ''Layers'' (Les McCann album) * ''Layers'' (Royce da 5'9" album) *"Layers", the title track of Royce da 5'9"'s sixth studio album *Layer, a female Maveric ...

* Hexagonal architecture *

Microservices A microservice architecture – a variant of the service-oriented architecture structural style – is an architectural pattern that arranges an application as a collection of loosely-coupled, fine-grained services, communicating through lightw ...

* Action–domain–responder, **

Model–view–controller Model–view–controller (MVC) is a software architectural pattern commonly used for developing user interfaces that divide the related program logic into three interconnected elements. This is done to separate internal representations of infor ...

** Presentation–abstraction–control **

Model–view–presenter Model–view–presenter (MVP) is a derivation of the model–view–controller (MVC) architectural pattern, and is used mostly for building user interfaces. In MVP, the ''presenter'' assumes the functionality of the "middle-man". In MVP, all ...

Model–view–viewmodel Model–view–viewmodel (MVVM) is an architectural pattern in computer software that facilitates the separation of the development of the graphical user interface (GUI; the ''view'')—be it via a markup language or GUI code—from the develo ...

Model–view–adapter Model–view–adapter (MVA) or mediating-controller MVC is a software architectural pattern and multitier architecture. In complex computer applications that present large amounts of data to users, developers often wish to separate data (model) a ...

Entity component system Entity Component System (ECS) is a software architectural pattern mostly used in video game development for the representation of game world objects. An ECS comprises ''entities'' composed from ''components'' of data, with ''systems'' which opera ...

Entity-control-boundary The entity-control-boundary (ECB), or entity-boundary-control (EBC), or boundary-control-entity (BCE) is an architectural pattern used in use-case driven object-oriented software design that structures the classes composing a software accordin ...

Multitier architecture In software engineering, multitier architecture (often referred to as ''n''-tier architecture) is a client–server architecture in which presentation, application processing and data management functions are physically separated. The most wide ...

(often three-tier or -tier) *

Object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pr ...

Naked objects Naked objects is an architectural pattern used in software engineering. It is defined by three principles: The naked object pattern's innovative feature arises by combining the and principles into a principle: The naked objects pattern was ...

Operational data store An operational data store (ODS) is used for operational reporting and as a source of data for the enterprise data warehouse (EDW). It is a complementary element to an EDW in a decision support environment, and is used for operational reporting, con ...

(ODS) *

Peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer n ...

* Pipe and filter architecture *

Service-oriented architecture In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. By consequence, it is also applied in the field of software design where services are provide ...

Space-based architecture A Space-based architecture (SBA) is an approach to distributed computing systems where the various components interact with each other by ''exchanging'' tuples or entries via one or more shared spaces. This is contrasted with the more common Mess ...

Distributed hash table A distributed hash table (DHT) is a distributed system that provides a lookup service similar to a hash table: key–value pairs are stored in a DHT, and any participating node can efficiently retrieve the value associated with a given key. The m ...

Publish–subscribe pattern In software architecture, publish–subscribe is a messaging pattern where senders of messages, called publishers, do not program the messages to be sent directly to specific receivers, called subscribers, but instead categorize published mes ...

Message broker A message broker (also known as an integration broker or interface engine) is an intermediary computer program module that translates a message from the formal messaging protocol of the sender to the formal messaging protocol of the receiver. Mess ...

Hierarchical model–view–controller Hierarchical model–view–controller (HMVC) is a software architectural pattern, a variation of model–view–controller (MVC) similar to presentation–abstraction–control (PAC), that was published in 2000 in an article in JavaWorld ' ...

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Design Patterns patterns Software design patterns

Definition

Architectural style

Examples

See also

References

Bibliography