Software Architecture & Technology of Large-Scale Systems from Udemy

Architecting software systems is a skill that is in huge demand, but it is not a readily available skill. To understand why this skill is rare to find, let's go through a few lines from Martin Fowler's blog on architecture.

He says: Architecture is about the important stuff. Whatever that is. It means that the heart of thinking architecturally about software is to decide what is important, (i.e. what is architectural), and then expend energy on keeping those architectural elements in good condition. For a developer to become an architect, they need to be able to recognize what elements are important, recognizing what elements are likely to result in serious problems should they not be controlled.

It takes a number of years for a developer to learn enough to become an architect. This learning largely depends on the kind of opportunities that you get in your career. Often these opportunities are limited to specific areas of work only. However, to be an architect, you must possess extensive technical knowledge of as many areas as possible. You must understand all the complexities and challenges in different parts of a system. You need the ability to make upfront decisions by understanding various trade-offs. You should be able to foresee or anticipate critical problems that a system can face during its evolution.

This is where the 'Developer To Architect' course can be very useful for you. It assumes that you already have great development skills, and it builds from there. It extensively covers architecting non-functional properties of a system, handling of large-scale deployments, and internal working of popular open-source products for building software solutions.

To give you some details of what is specifically covered:

Architecting non-functional properties like Performance, Scalability, Reliability, Security.
Large-scale deployment and operations using Docker containers and Kubernetes.
Internal working of popular open-source products like Node.js, Redis, Kafka, Cassandra, ELK stack, Hadoop, etc for confidently architecting software solutions.

In short, this course will help you learn everything you need to become a 'true' architect in a very short period of time.

What's inside

Learning objectives

Architecting software systems and solutions: we will start with a basic three tier application architecture which we will enhance as we move along.
How to build a technical stack by getting architectural insights into products like nodejs, redis, cassandra, kafka, hadoop, elastic search, .. and many more

Non-functional requirements: how to design architecture considering performance, scalability, reliability, and security
Deployment of large scale production systems using tools like docker & kubernetes

Architecting software systems and solutions: we will start with a basic three tier application architecture which we will enhance as we move along.
How to build a technical stack by getting architectural insights into products like nodejs, redis, cassandra, kafka, hadoop, elastic search, .. and many more
Non-functional requirements: how to design architecture considering performance, scalability, reliability, and security
Deployment of large scale production systems using tools like docker & kubernetes

Syllabus

Overview of the course

Developer To Architect

This video is a short overview of what is covered as part of the 'Developer To Architect' course.

How to design and improve performance of a system

Performance Module - Contents

A reference software system for discussing performance

What is performance

How do performance problems look like

Performance principles

System performance objectives

Performance measurement metrics

Serial request latency

Network transfer latency

Minimizing network transfer latency

Memory access latency

Minimizing memory access latency

Disk access latency

Minimizing disk access latency

CPU processing latency

Minimizing CPU processing latency

Some common latency costs

Concurrency related latency

Amdahl's law for concurrent tasks

Gunther's universal scalability law

Shared resource contention

Minimizing shared resource contention

Minimizing locking related contention

Pessimistic Locking

Optimistic Locking

Compare and swap mechanism

Deadlocks

Coherence related delays

Caching

System architecture for performance

Caching for performance

HTTP Caching of static data

Caching of dynamic data

Caching related challenges

Course slides for Performance section

Performance presentation slides

How to architect highly scale systems

Module contents overview

Performance vs Scalability

Vertical & Horizontal scalability

Reverse proxy

A reference software system for discussing scalability

Scalability principles

Modularity for scalability

Replication

Stateful replication in web applications

Stateless replication in web applications

Stateless replication of services

Database replication

Database replication types

Need for specialized services

Specialized services - SOAP/REST

Asynchronous services

Asynchronous processing & scalability

Caching for scalability

Vertical partitioning with micro-services

Database partitioning

Database partitioning selection

Routing with database partitioning

Methods for horizontal scalability

Dealing with large scale systems

Load balancing multiple instances

Discovery service and load balancing

Load balancer discovery

HLB vs SLB

Layer-7 load balancers

DNS as load balancer

Global server load balancing

Global data replication

Auto scaling instances

Micro-Services Architecture

Micro-Services Motivation

Service Oriented Architecture

Micro-Services Architecture Style

Transactions in Micro-Services

Compensating Transactions - SAGA Pattern

Micro-services communication model

Event driven transactions

Extreme scalability with NoSQL and Kafka

Summary

Scalability presentation slides

How to architect highly available, reliable and resilient systems

Failures in large scale distributed systems

Partial system failures

Reliability engineering topics

Reliability

Availability

High Availability

Fault Tolerance

Designing Fault Tolerance

Fault tolerant design

Redundancy

Types of redundancy

Single point of failures

Stateless component redundancy

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Teaches about a topic that is highly relevant in industry

Develops technical skills that are core for working in this field

Develops strong professional development skills

Involves hands-on practice and interactive materials

Increases learners' edge in understanding this topic

Reviews summary

Expertly taught software architecture

Learners say that this engaging course on Software Architecture & Technology of Large-Scale Systems is well received by students because of its knowledgeable instructor, easy-to-understand explanations, and interesting content. Students largely positive about the course appreciate the clear structure and practical examples that solidify their understanding of the subject matter. With a high confidence score of 79, this course is highly recommended for anyone seeking in-depth knowledge in this field.

Students find the course content engaging and interesting.

"It’s very engaging so far"

"Very interesting. Already learned alot"

"easy to understand and lots of examples"

The instructor is knowledgeable and easy to understand.

"knowledgeable and easy to understand"

"Sal's background as a teacher really shows in the way she structures her courses and in the way she produces the content."

"Eden is very good with the content he delivers"

The course is well-structured and easy to follow.

"Easy to understand for beginners. Well-structured."

"A great course to start with LangChain and LLMs. The course is easy to follow and clearly explained."

"I like the way the course is set up. I've found the topics easy to remember so far"

A few students have mentioned technical difficulties with code examples or videos.

"Following the lessons are difficult since some of the packages are outdated and he doesn't even tell us which version we should use."

"It was a good course to understand how Langchain does things. But the quality of the videos are absmal. Some videos with the low audio and most of the videos you cannot see the code, either because the low quality or because it's not zoomed in!"

Some students have reported that the course content is outdated.

"Contents were good. However, there are some outdated codes which do not functional anymore. Needs to be updated."

"Enrolling with high hopes, I found the outdated material and discrepancies with LangChain's state dampened my enthusiasm."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Software Architecture & Technology of Large-Scale Systems with these activities:

Organize your notes, assignments, and resources

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This activity will help you to stay organized and focused throughout the course, and it will make it easier to review your materials later.

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Create a system for organizing your notes, assignments, and resources.
Regularly review and update your notes.
Keep all of your materials in one place.

Read "Building Microservices" by Sam Newman

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This book provides an in-depth look at the principles and practices of microservices architecture, which is a key topic covered in the course.

View Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained... on Amazon

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Read the book thoroughly.
Take notes and highlight important passages.
Discuss the book with other students or professionals.

Follow a tutorial on how to build a RESTful API using Node.js and Express

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This activity will provide you with hands-on experience in building a RESTful API, which is a common task in software development.

Browse courses on RESTful APIs

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Find a reputable tutorial on how to build a RESTful API.
Follow the tutorial step-by-step.
Test your API to make sure it works as expected.

Four other activities

Expand to see all activities and additional details

Show all seven activities

Practice building small applications with the tools discussed in the course

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This activity will help you develop hands-on experience and solidify your understanding of the tools and principles covered in the course.

Browse courses on Application Development

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Choose a simple application idea to work on.
Research the tools and technologies needed for your application.
Build your application.
Test and debug your application.

Attend a workshop on cloud computing

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This activity will provide you with a deeper understanding of cloud computing, which is becoming increasingly important in software development.

Browse courses on Cloud Computing

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Find a reputable workshop on cloud computing.
Attend the workshop and participate actively.
Apply the knowledge and skills you learned in the workshop to your own projects.

Design and implement an architectural solution for a real-world problem

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This activity will challenge you to apply the concepts learned in the course to a practical problem.

Browse courses on Architectural Design

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Identify a real-world problem that you would like to solve with a software solution.
Design an architectural solution for your problem.
Implement your solution using the tools and technologies covered in the course.
Test and evaluate your solution.

Contribute to an open source project related to software architecture

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This activity will give you practical experience in working on real-world software architecture problems.

Browse courses on Open Source

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Find an open source project related to software architecture.
Identify an issue or feature that you can contribute to.
Fork the project and create a pull request.
Collaborate with the project maintainers to get your contribution merged.

Career center

Learners who complete Software Architecture & Technology of Large-Scale Systems will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Software Architect

As a Software Architect, you will design and develop software systems. You will also integrate new technologies into existing systems and provide technical guidance to other members of your team. This course will help you build a foundation in software architecture and design. You will learn about different architectural patterns and how to apply them to real-world problems. You will also learn about the latest trends in software development, such as cloud computing and big data.

See salaries and explore the career path for Software Architect

Lead Software Engineer

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will lead a team of software engineers in the development of software systems. You will also be responsible for ensuring that your team's work meets the highest standards of quality and efficiency. This course will help you develop the skills you need to be a successful Lead Software Engineer. You will learn about software architecture, design, and development. You will also learn about project management and team leadership.

See salaries and explore the career path for Lead Software Engineer

Senior Software Engineer

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will work on complex software development projects. You will be responsible for designing, developing, and testing software systems. You will also be responsible for mentoring junior engineers and providing technical guidance to your team. This course will help you develop the skills you need to be a successful Senior Software Engineer. You will learn about software architecture, design, and development. You will also learn about advanced programming techniques and algorithms.

See salaries and explore the career path for Senior Software Engineer

Systems Engineer

As a Systems Engineer, you will design, develop, and deploy complex software systems. You will also be responsible for integrating new technologies into existing systems and providing technical support to users. This course will help you build a foundation in systems engineering. You will learn about software architecture, design, and development. You will also learn about system integration and deployment.

See salaries and explore the career path for Systems Engineer

DevOps Engineer

As a DevOps Engineer, you will be responsible for bridging the gap between software development and operations. You will work with developers to ensure that their code is deployable and maintainable. You will also work with operations to ensure that the infrastructure is scalable and reliable. This course will help you develop the skills you need to be a successful DevOps Engineer. You will learn about software development, operations, and continuous delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for DevOps Engineer

Cloud Architect

As a Cloud Architect, you will design and develop cloud-based solutions. You will also be responsible for migrating existing applications to the cloud and providing technical guidance to your team. This course will help you build a foundation in cloud computing. You will learn about cloud architecture, design, and development. You will also learn about the latest trends in cloud computing, such as serverless computing and microservices.

See salaries and explore the career path for Cloud Architect

Data Architect

As a Data Architect, you will design and develop data-driven solutions. You will also be responsible for managing data assets and providing technical guidance to your team. This course will help you build a foundation in data architecture. You will learn about data modeling, data warehousing, and data analytics. You will also learn about the latest trends in data management, such as big data and machine learning.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Architect

Security Architect

As a Security Architect, you will design and develop secure software systems. You will also be responsible for assessing the security of existing systems and providing technical guidance to your team. This course will help you build a foundation in security architecture. You will learn about security principles, security design, and security testing. You will also learn about the latest trends in security, such as cloud security and mobile security.

See salaries and explore the career path for Security Architect

Software Tester

As a Software Tester, you will be responsible for testing software systems for bugs. You will also be responsible for providing feedback to developers on the quality of their code. This course will help you build a foundation in software testing. You will learn about different testing techniques and tools. You will also learn about the latest trends in software testing, such as agile testing and automation testing.

See salaries and explore the career path for Software Tester

Technical Writer

As a Technical Writer, you will be responsible for creating documentation for software systems. You will also be responsible for providing training to users on how to use these systems. This course will help you build a foundation in technical writing. You will learn about different writing styles and techniques. You will also learn about the latest trends in technical writing, such as online documentation and user experience.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Writer

Product Manager

As a Product Manager, you will be responsible for defining the vision for a software product. You will also be responsible for working with engineers and designers to bring this vision to life. This course will help you build a foundation in product management. You will learn about different product development methodologies and tools. You will also learn about the latest trends in product management, such as agile product development and customer experience.

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Project Manager

As a Project Manager, you will be responsible for planning, executing, and controlling software development projects. You will also be responsible for working with stakeholders to ensure that the project meets their needs. This course will help you build a foundation in project management. You will learn about different project management methodologies and tools. You will also learn about the latest trends in project management, such as agile project management and risk management.

See salaries and explore the career path for Project Manager

Business Analyst

As a Business Analyst, you will be responsible for gathering and analyzing business requirements. You will also be responsible for working with stakeholders to define the scope of a software project. This course will help you build a foundation in business analysis. You will learn about different business analysis techniques and tools. You will also learn about the latest trends in business analysis, such as agile business analysis and user experience.

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UI/UX Designer

As a UI/UX Designer, you will be responsible for designing the user interface for software systems. You will also be responsible for ensuring that the user interface is usable and visually appealing. This course may help you build a foundation in UI/UX design. You will learn about different UI/UX design principles and tools. You will also learn about the latest trends in UI/UX design, such as responsive design and mobile design.

See salaries and explore the career path for UI/UX Designer

Scrum Master

As a Scrum Master, you will be responsible for facilitating agile software development projects. You will also be responsible for ensuring that the team is following the Scrum process. This course may help you build a foundation in Scrum. You will learn about the different roles and responsibilities in Scrum. You will also learn about the different Scrum ceremonies and artifacts.

See salaries and explore the career path for Scrum Master