Architectural Patterns (Overview)

This post is a glossary entry covering essential architectural patterns – including exam questions and tags.

In a Nutshell

Architectural patterns provide proven structural blueprints for recurring design challenges: clear layer separation, loose coupling, or service-oriented approaches.

Core Definition

Architectural patterns define how components are organized and interconnected. The goals are reusability, maintainability, and extensibility.

Common patterns include:

• Layered architecture (e.g., 3-tier)
• MVC
• Client-Server
• SOA
• Microservices
• Event-driven Architecture
• Hexagonal Architecture
• Monolith

Key Exam Topics

• Patterns are “high-level system structure”
• Support modularity and testability
• Layered architecture appears in professional certifications
• MVC separates UI responsibilities
• Microservices increase operational complexity (security, deployment)
• Architecture affects total cost
• Documentation requires diagrams, interfaces, and justification

Core Components

1. Layered architecture
2. MVC
3. Client-Server
4. SOA
5. Microservices
6. EDA
7. Hexagonal
8. Monolith
9. Hybrid architectures
10. Documentation (C4/UML)

Practical Example (3-Tier)

Presentation (HTML/JS)
Business (REST-Service)
Data Access (ORM/DB)

Strengths and Tradeoffs

Strengths

• Clearer structure
• Improved maintainability and testability
• Greater flexibility in technology choices

Tradeoffs

• Overhead when patterns become unnecessarily complex
• Performance impact from over-decoupling

Typical Exam Questions (with Brief Answers)

1. What is an architectural pattern? A standardized structural blueprint for software.
2. What layers make up 3-tier architecture? Presentation, business logic, data access.
3. When do microservices make sense? For large systems with frequent release cycles.

Further Reading

1. https://arc42.org/
2. https://c4model.com/