Grokking Software Architecture: A friendly guide for programmers and other curious people

By Matt Erman

Get the eBook free when you register your print book at Manning.

A "software architecture" defines the fundamental, high-level structure of a software system, acting as a blueprint for its components, their relationships, and how they interact. As a developer, having a command of the principles, patterns, and vocabulary of software architecture empowers you to contribute meaningfully throughout an application's lifecycle--from its initial design to its deployment in production.

This book is a fast-paced introduction to the foundational ideas of software architecture, written for developers and aspiring architects. Creative illustrations and diagrams, hilarious disaster stories, "in action" missions, and a full repository of example code teach you how to spot design mistakes and understand architectural tradeoff decisions. Along the way, you'll also explore author Matt Erman's 5-step Architectural Thinking Process for reliably turning vague business requests into clear, defensible technical decisions.

What's inside

- Navigate, improve, and modernize legacy systems
- APIs and event-driven systems
- Architectural styles including microservices, hexagonal, cloud native, and serverless
- AI as a force multiplier

About the reader

For junior and mid-level software developers and aspiring architects. Includes examples in C#, Java, Python, and JavaScript.

About the author

Matt Erman is a senior software engineer at Blackboard, LLC.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1633434222
• ISBN13: 9781633434226
• Release Date: December 2026
• Publisher: Manning
• Length: 325 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.4" x 9.3"