The Modern Approach to Application Architecture in Development
It’s difficult to find an app these days that doesn’t seem to break the fourth wall. Whether through stickers, chat boxes, or clickable icons on their home pages, apps are getting more interactive. Developing these apps requires something new: application architecture (AA) is updated to include the latest technology like data streams and push notifications.
This article will cover what AA really is and why it matters in web and mobile app development company projects today. Also, you’ll get to know how to assess the quality of your app’s architecture.
What is Application Architecture?
According to ThoughtWorks, AA refers to the “high-level structures by which the development team will organize itself and deliver an application.” Code is built upon code, so large-scale web apps are built on top of frameworks on top of platforms on top of languages on top of machine instructions. App architecture is how these layers are organized. It tells us where to place functionality, how our dev teams should interact with each other, what tools are required for each portion of the process, and what the workflow should be during development.
One of the possible approaches to app architecture is design-driven development. It focuses on designing an application’s user interface (UI) before it goes into development, which is what we often see in iOS and Android apps.
The value of an AA framework lies in the fact that it makes it easier for developers to find and understand the data and functionality required by their apps. This allows them to write code faster and with greater clarity and creates a foundation for scalable and maintainable projects, which lead to happier clients over time.
The Mobile App Development Process
Every business wants its mobile apps to be successful, but developers can get bogged down with the complexity of creating unique solutions. The mobile app development process has three stages: ideation, design, and development. It may sound simple, but dev teams can’t afford to stop at any one step.
Stage 1: Ideation
This is where you start thinking about how to improve your business. Drawing sketches on paper isn’t uncommon in this stage of the process, but sometimes the dev team’s ideas are just too big or have no practical application. The team might also discover that there’s already an application or third-party service that can provide what they need. From here, the team decides how to best utilize their time and budget.
Stage 2: Design
At this point, you know what you want to build and how it will be used, but you still can’t quite see how it fits into the mobile app development process. You may want to add a new feature or refine existing ones in response to user feedback and market analysis and copycatting. It’s important at this stage for the developer team to work with the client in deciding on a UI or UX strategy for their product.
Stage 3: Development
The development stage is when you start seeing results. It’s important to make sure that your developers and designers are communicating effectively. It’s also important to be able to measure the success of the application and make any changes needed to provide a quality user experience. The next step is testing and debugging, followed by deployment and maintenance of the app. After all, it’s not a successful project unless end users like it.
What Are the Benefits of Taking an Application Architecture Approach?
Application architecture can be thought of as a road map that makes the application development process easier to understand, control, and maintain. It breaks down complex information into shorter chunks that developers and designers perceive as more comprehensive. It also entails designing the app with data streams in mind so it can be updated without having to re-create or modify the entire system every time you want to add new functionality or change existing functionality.
As mentioned earlier, it’s important for dev teams to have AA in mind at every step of the mobile app development process so they can deliver apps that are both responsive and scalable over time.
One of the biggest benefits of having an application architecture is that it makes the dev team more efficient. According to ThoughtWorks, “Developers can be freed from having to constantly deal with multiple versions of a product as a result of architectural drift. Furthermore, good design, separation of concerns and encapsulation can reduce technical debt and help alleviate dependencies between features.” The same holds true for mobile applications. Code moves faster, bugs are easier to reproduce and fix, and you don’t have to spend as long after each release as you might otherwise if the app is built upon a framework or customized platform.
How to Assess the Quality of Your Application Architecture?
The high-quality application architecture should be:
- The application should be reliable and able to cope with the loads. It should carry out all the tasks that users expect from it.
- When a new developer joins the project, they should be able to quickly understand its code and start working on it immediately.
- Thanks to testing, the reliability of the application will increase and the number of errors will decrease.
- The architecture shouldn’t fail if you change one of its elements. That new or updated element shouldn’t influence others in a negative way.
- You should be able to add an unlimited number of new functions to the application.
- The architecture should allow you to direct development in several parallel threads to promptly update the product.
If the architecture of your application fails to meet at least one criteria, you should strive to improve it.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this article came in handy and now you better understand the specifics and benefits of the modern approach to application architecture in development. If your dev team knows how to create top-end architecture for the app, they should be able to create a functional and sustainable product that the client will highly appreciate.
