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About the Book

Tired of architectural theory that doesn't survive contact with reality? Fed up with the "move fast and break things" hangover? "Thinking About Application Architecture" is your pragmatic, no-nonsense guide to designing server-side applications that are built to last and built to evolve.

This book cuts through the dogma and academic debates to focus on what truly matters: making architectural decisions that are hard to regret. We champion the "Build It Right First" philosophy—not by designing everything upfront, but by creating a simple, clean, and evolvable foundation from Day One.

Using the running case study of "Akṣaya Pātra Stores Online" (a local provision store going digital), we'll journey through the core concepts:

• Foundations: Understand the real difference between architecture and design, how software actually evolves, and how to represent your architecture effectively (using practical tools like C4 and ADRs).
• The Map: Explore the "what"—the established patterns like the Modular Monolith, Microservices, and Event-Driven Architecture, plus essential design topics like DDD and database design.
• The Compass: Master the "why"—the core principles, the critical "-ilities" (Scalability, Resilience, etc.), and the crucial human elements of the architect's role.

Written for experienced developers and senior engineers stepping into architectural roles, this book embraces the Leanpub "Publish Early, Publish Often" philosophy. It's a living document, evolving with your feedback. Forget ivory towers; let's build software that works, endures, and adapts.

About the Author

Aravindan Baskaran

A Senior Architect and Principal Engineer with over two decades of experience designing and building large-scale, complex systems. Over the years, has developed deep expertise in distributed systems architecture, microservices, and enterprise-scale design, navigating the evolving challenges of modern software engineering with clarity and precision.

Passionate about architecture leadership, and guided by a pragmatic “Build It Right First” philosophy—creating robust, evolvable foundations without falling into the trap of over-engineering. The focus remains on balancing innovation with practical scalability and long-term maintainability. This philosophy blends technical discipline with bold ambition—to design systems that can scale to “universe scale” while maintaining zero compromise on security and reliability.