Software Systems Architecture: Working With Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives Review

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Software Systems Architecture: Working With Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives ReviewWhen it comes to the systems or software architecture, I subscribe to Tom Demarco's definition: "An architecture is a framework for the disciplined introduction of change." (http://www.systemsguild.com/GuildSite/TDM/Architecture.html). And while most of the job postings matching "architect" these days talk about the need for writing and testing code, there is a growing awareness in the industry that in order to build a resilient enterprise system an organization must look beyond design patterns and coding idioms. In addition to the technical challenges, building large enterprise system requires effort of many professionals during an extended period of time. This brings other non-technical risks into the picture.
This is one of the better books covering many issues that comprise System Architecture discipline in the light of their personal experience. The authors introduce us to an approach for partitioning architecture using Viewpoints (behavioral characteristics, e.g. Functional, Information, Concurrency, Development, Deployment, Operational) and Perspectives (nonfunctional aspects, e.g. Security, Performance and Scalability, Availability and Resilience, Evolution).
The first half of the book describes the discipline of Application Software Architecture, the second half contains two catalogs, one for Viewpoints and the other for Perspectives. Both catalogs describe concerns, artifacts (models), problems and pitfalls when focusing on a viewpoint or perspective.
I would qualify this book as a companion and reference for a beginner through intermediate level. It gives an excellent overview of what a system architect has to go through day in and day out to achieve success. The book contains a wealth of advice on what to pay and not pay attention to in any particular stage of the architectural development. The authors clearly speak from personal experience. Their examples are always to the point, although a bit sketchy with respect to details on techniques and artifacts and how to develop and use them. Considering the site of the volume, the authors did an excellent job balancing width and depth of coverage: trying to cover such a vast discipline in detail in a 500+-page book is not possible.Software Systems Architecture: Working With Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives Overview
Software Systems Architecture is a practitioner-oriented guide to designing and implementing effective architectures for information systems. It is both a readily accessible introduction to software architecture and an invaluable handbook of well-established best practices. It shows why the role of the architect is central to any successful information-systems development project, and, by presenting a set of architectural viewpoints and perspectives, provides specific direction for improving your own and your organization's approach to software systems architecture.

With this book you will learn how to

Design an architecture that reflects and balances the different needs of its stakeholders
Communicate the architecture to stakeholders and demonstrate that it has met their requirements
Focus on architecturally significant aspects of design, including frequently overlooked areas such as performance,resilience, and location
Use scenarios and patterns to drive the creation and validation of your architecture
Document your architecture as a set of related views
Use perspectives to ensure that your architecture exhibits important qualities such as performance, scalability, and security

The architectural viewpoints and perspectives presented in the book also provide a valuable long-term reference source for new and experienced architects alike.

Whether you are an aspiring or practicing software architect, you will find yourself referring repeatedly to the practical advice in this book throughout the lifecycle of your projects.

A supporting Web site containing further information can be found at www.viewpoints-and-perspectives.info


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Enterprise Architecture and Integration: Methods, Implementation and Technologies Review

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Enterprise Architecture and Integration: Methods, Implementation and Technologies Review"What's in a name?" -W. Shakespeare
It's like being hit by a bus; this book is a serious read. I had to read it twice to simply understand the reasoning behind the title "Enterprise Architecture and Integration".
This is not a typical technical book. It is a collection of concepts, statistics, challenges and solutions packed in only about 360 pages, but after you are done reading it you feel like you just finished reading Leo Tolstoy's war and peace.
Only after reading the whole book, you will realize that sum of the pieces, and the knowledge acquired throughout the book, is what will make you start appreciating the book, and its value; which is the product of collaboration between the authors of each chapter, and the hard work by Wing Lam to put it together.
Of course there were some questions in my mind, such as to why they thought it was important to talk about RFID, specifically in the last chapter of the last section Hmmmmm, also why the "Architects" didn't see the downfall of the SOA and it's shortcomings including its inability to deliver on ROI.

I am a firm believer that architectural books should not be bound by time and space but represent concepts, ideas creations that are applicable regardless, so therefore I suggest that the title be changed to "Making of an Enterprise Architect and an Integrator", which I believe what this book intends on delivering. And to answer Mr. Shakespeare's question I simply say: Everything.
Best Fishes and thank you for reading.
Enterprise Architecture and Integration: Methods, Implementation and Technologies OverviewEnterprise integration is a broad activity that involves solving a range of issues relating to business process definition, common data standards, architectural compatibility, technical interoperability, and organizational alignment. Enterprise Architecture and Integration: Methods, Implementation, and Technologies provides a detailed analysis of the important strategies for integrating IT systems into fields such as e-business and customer-relationship management. This Premier Reference Source supplies readers with a comprehensive survey of existing enterprise architecture and integration approaches, and presents case studies that illustrate best practices. It takes a holistic view of enterprise integration, describing innovative methods, tools, and architectures with which organizations can systematically achieve enterprise integration.

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The Process of Creating Life: Nature of Order, Book 2: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order)(Flexible) Review

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The Process of Creating Life: Nature of Order, Book 2: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order)(Flexible) ReviewReview by Nikos A. Salingaros.
PART A. REVIEW FOR ARCHITECTS.
Contemporary architecture is increasingly grounded in science and mathematics. Architectural discourse has shifted radically from the sometimes disorienting Derridean deconstruction, to engaging scientific terms such as fractals, chaos, complexity, nonlinearity, and evolving systems. That's where the architectural action is -- at least for cutting-edge architects and thinkers -- and every practicing architect and student needs to become conversant with these terms and know what they mean. Unfortunately, the vast majority of architecture faculty are unprepared to explain them to students, not having had a scientific education themselves.
Here is an architecture book by an architect/scientist, just in time to help architects in the new millennium. Alexander discusses many of the scientific terms arising in cutting-edge architecture, and explains them to those who don't have scientific training or advanced mathematical knowledge. We find discussions of the evolution of forms; the importance of process in design; iteration; genetic algorithms; sequences of transformations; different levels of scale (i.e. fractals); etc. They are explained here by an architect who is also a scientist, because he wants to change the way architects think and build. Alexander is not merely popularizing other scientists' results and making them accessible to architects: he is in fact presenting new and original scientific work that ties many of these concepts together in a way that will be useful to architects.
Alexander spends many of the 636 pages of this book talking about PROCESS. He describes the sequence of steps leading to a built form, and how each step depends on all previous steps. Alexander distinguishes between good and bad sequences of steps, where the latter are marked by some disruptive discontinuity, and which, as a result, cannot lead to coherent form. It follows that the method of design taught in architecture schools for decades -- "conceive an interesting image in your mind, then impose it onto the environment" -- is wrong. ALEXANDER ARGUES THAT COHERENCE CAN NEVER BE ACHIEVED EXCEPT BY THE SEQUENCE METHOD. Don't forget this is the Alexander who wrote "A Pattern Language", an equally revolutionary book. Therefore, every architect, especially those whose own design methodology clashes with Alexander's ideas, is well advised to become aware of what he says instead of simply dismissing him offhand.
The present volume is the second of four. I believe that, with some effort, it can be read independently from the first volume (not that I am suggesting this, but merely to encourage people to plunge into Volume 2 immediately). This is the one of the four volumes that is most likely to appeal to those who are already interested in and actively working in applying the New Sciences to architecture. I therefore urge innovative architects and architecture students to read this book. In my opinion, it should enlighten everyone's conception of the design process, and help to initiate a reexamination in one's mind of how new ideas for structures and buildings are generated. This book might well influence in a major way how buildings of the future are designed and built, hence how they will look. No-one who thinks deeply and conscientiously about design today should pass it by.
PART B. REVIEW FOR SCIENTISTS.
Alexander is famous in the architectural world, yet he trained in Physics and Mathematics in Cambridge, and was part of the group of scientists who developed systems theory along with Herbert Simon. He has been investigating the interaction between science and architecture all of his life, and the four-volume work "The Nature of Order" contains the results of his researches. Volume 2, in particular, contains the most science. It may surprise many professional scientists that Alexander has managed to conceive of new results by applying architecture to science, surely a development that is as unexpected as it is novel.
This book contains interesting scientific insights. For example, already by page 42, Alexander proposes a radical rethinking of the standard Neo-Darwinian synthesis. He suggests that, based on a broad range of examples, evolving form in any context is driven just as much by intrinsic long-range forces having to do with geometrical configurations, as by the usual random Darwinian selection process. He thus takes suggestions by Stuart Kauffman and Brian Goodwin and develops them into a proto-theory of morphogenesis. It is not complete, and Alexander knows that, but I believe that the evolutionary biology community will get very excited about this idea. He supports his arguments by using phenomenology, and providing a theoretical basis wherever he can. I believe we are going to see a lot of activity, as ideas from this book inspire other authors to try to prove or disprove them. All of that is healthy, and will eventually establish Alexander as a contributor to scientific thinking.
My own favorite part is the discussion of how generative sequences break symmetry: instead of producing identical components (i.e., windows, houses, office blocks, apartments), the same generative process gives rise to similar types of complex objects that are individualized and thus distinct. This helps us to understand natural complexity, where adaptation does indeed produce diversity within the same typology. The underlying problem is how to correlate the different scales in a complex system, hitherto unsolved in any discipline. Therefore, this discussion is of great interest to computer scientists, who are grappling with modularization in software so as to handle the increasing complexity of code.
I am a scientist, and I have profited from Alexander's efforts to understand very deep problems in complexity. The price to pay is having to read through all the architectural examples (which may or may not be of interest to many scientists). Alexander is like a moth circling around fascinating problems. Even when he does not give a solution, his circling in fact identifies the problem, and by approaching it, he gives nontrivial hints towards its eventual solution. And, don't forget that it's the architectural stuff that's going to inspire architects to build a more beautiful world for the rest of us.The Process of Creating Life: Nature of Order, Book 2: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order)(Flexible) Overview
The processes of nature can make an infinite number of human faces, each one unique, each one beautiful. The same is true for daffodils, streams, and stars. But man-made creations-especially the towns and buildings of the 20th century-have only occasionally been really good, more often mediocre, and in the last 50 years have very often been deadly. What is the reason for the difference?

In Book 2, Alexander explains in detail the kinds of process that are capable of generating living structure. The unfolding of living structure in natural systems is compared to the unfolding of buildings and town plans in traditional society, and then contrasted with present-day building processes.

The comparison reveals deep and shocking problems which pervade the present day planning and construction of buildings. Pervasive changes are needed to create a world in which living process-and hence living structure-are possible; these are changes which are ultimately attainable only through a transformation of society.

It is the use of sequences which makes it possible for each building to become unique, exactly fitted to its context, and harmonious. And it is also this use of sequences which makes it possible for people to participate effectively in the layout of their own buildings and communities.

"This will change the world as effectively as the advent of printing changed the world . . ."-Doug Carlston, Silicon Valley luminary and former president of Broderbund

Christopher Alexander is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, architect, builder, and author of many books and technical papers. He is the winner of the first medal for research ever awarded by the American Institute of Architects.


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Enterprise Architecture: Creating Value by Informed Governance (The Enterprise Engineering Series) Review

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Enterprise Architecture: Creating Value by Informed Governance (The Enterprise Engineering Series) ReviewAfter reading Architecture Principles and Enterprise Architecture at Work I decided I would also read this book and Enterprise Governance and Enterprise Engineering as well. I am starting Enterprise Governance and Enterprise Engineering now. This series is great!!! I recommend every Enterprise Architect buy the series.
This book was the first of the series. It is only 145 pages long, but it is packed full of valuable information.
This book puts Enterprise Architecture into context. It gives a complete picture of Enterprise Architecture.
It starts with a great chapter on why Enterprise Architecture is needed and then has chapters on Positioning Enterprise Architecture, The Results of Enterprise Architecting, The Process of Enterprise Architecting, and The Enterprise Architect.
One of my favorite parts of the book is the description the book gives to the Enterprise Architect role. Anyone looking to hire or become an Enterprise Architect should read this chapter. It covers basic job descriptions, competencies (e.g. dedication, authenticity, integrity, negotiation, openness, stability, etc.), responsibilities, and personality types.
One of the things I didn't like about the book is that there is no index. This seems to be the case for the smaller Springer book, so I can't ding the authors for that.
This is a well rounded introduction to Enterprise Architecture. It covers all the basics in depth and also provides a really nice example to show you the results of Enterprise Architecting.
All in all I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in anyway with Enterprise Architecture. It will provide you a clear picture of what it involves.

Enterprise Architecture: Creating Value by Informed Governance (The Enterprise Engineering Series) OverviewTwenty years after the first publications and books on enterprise architecture, the domain is evolving from a technology-driven towards a more business-driven approach, thus empowering decision makers to adapt and transform an enterprise in order to keep up with changing business needs. At the same time the discipline of enterprise architecting has matured, leading to a better understanding of the profession of an enterprise architect.With this book, the authors aim to provide an overview of enterprise architecture including the process of creating, applying and maintaining it, thus taking into account the perspectives of CxOs, business managers, enterprise architects, solution architects, designers and engineers. They explore the results that are produced as part of an enterprise architecture, the process by which these are produced, and the role the architect plays in this process. As such, they do not describe a specific method for developing an enterprise (IT) architecture, nor do they define a specific modeling language for enterprise architecture, rather they offer the reader a fundamental way of thinking about enterprise architecture, which will enable him to select and apply the right approach, architecture framework and tools that meet the objective and context of the architecture work at hand. This approach is emphasized by discussion statements at the end of each chapter, sparking thoughts about benefits, shortcomings, and future research directions.Covering both theoretical foundations and practical use, and written in close collaboration between industry professionals and academic lecturers, Enterprise Architecture thus offers an ideal introduction for students in areas like business information systems or management science, as well as guidance and background for professionals seeking a more thorough understanding of their field of work.

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Introduction to Landscape Design, 2nd Edition Review

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Introduction to Landscape Design, 2nd Edition ReviewThis book is an excellent introduction to the practical aspects of landscape design. After every chapter, the student can find an extensive bibliography for further study or reference. All concepts are clearly explained, especially spatial perception and projects. If you are looking for a one-in-all book, this is it. However, do not expect it to say much about the history of landscape design. This is a practical book only, but first quality!!!Introduction to Landscape Design, 2nd Edition OverviewOutstanding explorations of design concepts, principles, and processes This Second Edition of Introduction to Landscape Design offers even broader coverage of the environmental, human, technological, and aesthetic issues associated with landscape design than the first edition. Beginning with the way we perceive, manage, and design the landscape, it moves on to explore the forces that influence land design. An overview of landscape management, planning, and design includes a discussion of the roles and integration of the professions involved, modes of professional practice, and site scale design processes. The book explores the ecology of design and the integration of land design decisions into dynamic systems. This fully updated new edition:* Presents landscape design as a synergism of art and science* Addresses the interplay between buildings and sites* Provides insights into the breadth of people-environment relationships* Places special emphasis on our growing understanding of interrelationships between the landscape and human decisionsA superb introduction for students as well as a useful reference for practicing professionals, this book is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to develop a better understanding of landscape design.

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Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java Review

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Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java ReviewDesign patterns used to be the hottest topic around a couple of years ago. One of the side-effects was the "Applied Java Patterns" book which I very much liked and used to recommend to anyone looking for a "GoF" replacement using Java for code examples. Not anymore. From now on, I'm recommending Kuchana's "Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java".
Why am I so pleased with this book? What makes it any different than other design pattern books? Well, first of all the volume is huge. Kuchana's book covers all the original Gang of Four patterns plus another 20 or so patterns, including a couple of multithreading related patterns. Second, the text itself is very readable and doesn't cling too much on fancy words. The explanations are concise and to the point. Further kudos goes to dealing with such frequently asked questions like the difference between Factory Method and Abstract Factory.
To list some things I didn't like about this book, I have to say that having exercises without sample answers in the back was a tiny disappointment and I would've preferred a bit more condensed font for the code listings. That's about it.
All in all, a very good choice for filling the gaping design patterns encyclopedia slot in your bookshelf. Highly recommended.Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java OverviewSoftware engineering and computer science students need a resource that explains how to apply design patterns at the enterprise level, allowing them to design and implement systems of high stability and quality.Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java is a detailed explanation of how to apply design patterns and develop software architectures. It provides in-depth examples in Java, and guides students by detailing when, why, and how to use specific patterns. This textbook presents 42 design patterns, including 23 GoF patterns. Categories include: Basic, Creational, Collectional, Structural, Behavioral, and Concurrency, with multiple examples for each. The discussion of each pattern includes an example implemented in Java. The source code for all examples is found on a companion Web site.The author explains the content so that it is easy to understand, and each pattern discussion includes Practice Questions to aid instructors. The textbook concludes with a case study that pulls several patterns together to demonstrate how patterns are not applied in isolation, but collaborate within domains to solve complicated problems.

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SOA-Based Enterprise Integration: A Step-by-Step Guide to Services-based Application Review

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SOA-Based Enterprise Integration: A Step-by-Step Guide to Services-based Application ReviewWhen I first looked at this book (after opening the package from Amazon), I thought it would be perfect... it's not a hefty 1000-page cookbook... and seemed like it would be just the perfect level of detail to rein in the broad topics into something coherent. In fact, the book does a decent job with the overall picture, but has some major flaws in style, presentation, and bias that renders it a groggy, often un-informing, experience. I stuck with it, because I had no alternative at hand, and a tight timeframe, so I can speak as a reviewer that has actually read the book.
The Good: This book contains a decent overview of SOA components and does tie them together in a good overall picture.
The Bad (part I): This book was written by an IBM Senior Architect. The technical editor for the book is an IBM Architect. The forward was written by an IBM Fellow. The back cover contains endorsements from two IBMers, one of which is the VP for WebSphere Marketing. Much of the book contains unbiased information on industry standards. However, much of the rest of the book is an over-the-top promotion of IBM products. For example, the capstone of this work is the chapter on Enterprise Service Bus. This chapter reads like glossy marketing literature for IBM products at best and like an informertial at worst. That chapter is only 30 pages long, but uses the word "WebSphere" 24 times by my count. Conversely, the non-IBM Weblogic is mentioned exactly 0 times in the same chapter, and rarely throughout the rest of the book. This book calls IBM's WESB "the prime example" of an application server based ESB and goes on to list, in bulletized form, its "features and advantages". In another section, the author states, "IBM offers the most complete product lines in this area."
The Bad (part II): This book is poorly presented. It can't decide if it is a 40,000 ft overview or a detailed description of various technologies. For example, SOAP is covered in 22 short pages. That's obviously not enough for anything more than an explanation of what it is, how it is used, why it's good, and a few examples. Yet the author tries to dive into the structure of a SOAP message to the point of who-cares detail for a book like this. In the 22 pages covering SOAP, for example, the author states FIVE TIMES that if the header element is present, it must precede the body element.
In addition, the author uses a highly verbose and repetitive style. It often seems that about 20% of the book is either telling you what it's going to tell you or telling you what it's already told you. The book could have contained the same amount of useful information in about 200 pages. This overly verbose and repetitive style gives the book a sense that the author, a PhD, does not know how to communicate effectively with lesser intellects and frequently overshoots his simplification. The result is that the work often, but inconsistently, reads a bit like a "for dummies" type of book.SOA-Based Enterprise Integration: A Step-by-Step Guide to Services-based Application Overview
Foreword by Ray Harishankar, IBM Fellow
"There are many books on the market on the topic of SOA and SOA's business and technology value.This book focuses on one of the key technical values of SOA and does an excellent job of describing SOA-based application integration by clarifying the relationship and patterns of SOA with other integration technologies in a distributed computing environment." Sandra Carter, IBM Vice President for SOA, BPM, and WebSphere Marketing
"Services Oriented Architectures present many challenges today in the integration of existing systems and new systems, along with many times, old legacy mainframe applications.This book successfully addresses many of the complexities we see in the integration of SOA and mainframe legacy applications, presenting options and approaches to integrate the applications with the rest of the enterprise.The author takes a clearly defined pattern-based approach discussing the advantages, tools and methods.Readers will benefit from the insights in this book whether they play the architect role or a developer role on a SOA project."Sue Miller-Sylvia, IBM Fellow and Application Development Service Area Leader

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Service-Oriented Modeling (SOA): Service Analysis, Design, and Architecture Review

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Service-Oriented Modeling (SOA): Service Analysis, Design, and Architecture ReviewI have purchased and read many SOA books and they have all fallen into one of 2 camps. They are usually either "HOW-TO" implement a SOAP/XML/WSDL based request response guides with the standard buzzwords of SOA Governance, WS-*Everything and the Kitchen Sink*, and of course a vague description of how an Enterprise Service Bus magically does away with years a poorly implemented legacy systems. This is the first SOA book that I have read that did not waste my time with page after page trivial XML examples but actually presented an entire working formal language(extended or inspired by the UML component model I believe) to describe your existing environment("As-Is") and future-state architecture in everday terms understandable by business users and application developers. I'll admit when I read that the approach is both 'Holistic' and 'Anthropomorphic' I felt like I was being marketed some Ginko-Biloba pseudo mysticism but as I read through I understood that this is an approach to SOA, probably the first, to actually make the the underlying services and consolidation of services visible and tanglible in the way an architect builds a scale model of a proposed structure to provide an in depth understanding of the project to those who are unable to turn equations into 3D structures in there heads(which is most of us). The authors crowning achievement, in my opinon, is the realization that everything (Legacy System, Schedule Batch Job, Business Apporval Process, Business Rules, Storage) must be treated as 'Services' is a quantum leap for SOA that moves the concept of SOA from a vague buzzword to a concrete deliverable, tangible item.Service-Oriented Modeling (SOA): Service Analysis, Design, and Architecture OverviewAnswers to your most pressing SOA development questionsHow do we start with service modeling? How do we analyze services for better reusability? Who should be involved? How do we create the best architecture model for our organization? This must-read for all enterprise leaders gives you all the answers and tools needed to develop a sound service-oriented architecture in your organization.Praise for Service-Oriented ModelingService Analysis, Design, and Architecture"Michael Bell has done it again with a book that will be remembered as a key facilitator of the global shift to Service-Oriented Architecture. . . . With this book, Michael Bell provides that foundation and more-an essential bible for the next generation of enterprise IT."-Eric Pulier, Executive Chairman, SOA Software"Michael Bell's insightful book provides common language and techniques for business and technology organizations to take advantage of the SOA paradigm. By focusing modeling techniques on the business problem, Bell provides a way for professionals to work throughout the life cycle to create reusable and enduring services."-Mike Zbranak, CIO, Chase Card Services"This book will become an imperative business and technology service-oriented modeling recipe for any manager, architect, modeler, analyst, and developer in today's software development industry."-Jeff Schneider, CEO, MomentumSI"'Innovative' and 'groundbreaking' are words that best describe Michael Bell's Service-Oriented Modeling. It depicts a true service modeling approach that elegantly closes a clear and critical service modeling gap in the SOA industry. This holistic book ties these concepts together using real-world examples across a service life cycle that transitions services from ideas and concepts into production assets that deliver business value. A must-read for business and technical SOA practitioners."-Eric A. Marks, CEO, AgilePath Corporation"As hot as SOA is today, many business and technology professionals still find it challenging to mind the gap between their disparate methodologies and objectives. Herein Michael Bell speaks clearly to both camps in straightforward language, outlining disciplines each can use to communicate effectively and advance the realization of corporate aims. This book is a bible for all who seek to drive business/technology into the future."-Mark Edward Goodrich, Director, Investing Product Management, Reuters Media"This book takes senior IT architects and systems designers into the depths of modeling for SOA, with a fresh new perspective on tools, terminology, and how to turn the theory into practice. His full life-cycle approach balances process, control, and accountability to align all the participants in the delivery pipeline-clearing the road for successful SOA business solutions."-Phil Gilligan, Chief Technology Officer, EBS

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Sustainable Healthcare Architecture Review

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Sustainable Healthcare Architecture ReviewGreat resource for understanding the driving factors affecting change in contemporary healing environments. Like good health care practitioners who treat the person, not just the disease, Guenther and Vittori convince you that as designers we can create environments that nourish the person AND the economic bottom line.Sustainable Healthcare Architecture OverviewDesign, restorative building, biophilia, enhanced air quality and high performance building systems.
Written by leading national experts on the subject -- one of whom was recognized by Time magazine as a green innovator -- Sustainable Healthcare Architecture is the key guide to designing sustainable healthcare facilities. Building on the authors? combined knowledge and experience, this book includes case studies of more than 50 of the best contemporary sustainable healthcare projects. The book also contains numerous essays contributed by other leaders in sustainable design and healthcare. Additionally, the authors provide background information on LEED for Healthcare, as well as on the Green Guide for Health Care, which they were instrumental in developing.

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Practical API Design: Confessions of a Java Framework Architect Review

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Practical API Design: Confessions of a Java Framework Architect ReviewEnough said.
This and Effective Java by Bloch are the two books every Java programmer should have read. It will change the way you program and you'll be grateful for the change. The examples in this book are in Java but that's because they had to be in some language; I don't think any part of this book is specific to Java. If your code is consumed by other people, or even a future self, then this book will help you think through issues you may not have know you have. It did me.
In my opinion, this is those one of those once in a decade books that changes the game for anyone who reads it.
A totally mature, non-didactic work written by someone with that perfect combination of real-world experience, a high intellect, a no BS attitude, and humility.
This book is like getting a magical time telescope- you can see what the decisions you are making in your coding today will actually lead to in the future and what the inescapable consequences will be for you.
Actually, reading this book is a little like being put into the role of Scrooge being visited by the three ghosts of Christmas. You get to see what's going to happen to you because of your past and present actions before it happens. At it's heart it's a longitudinal study of how code is first consumed, abused and misused by other programmers and how those abuses become dependencies which determine what YOU, the code's author can and cannot do in future releases.
In a very small nutshell- totally innocent innocuous, completely legal and even recommended programming practices which you apply every day in your code can and will completely shut down any chance for your code to evolve in any rational way going forward in future releases. Why? Because you can't see the potential consequences of consumers of your code doing something you never thought they might do in ways you never meant for them to do it.
But here's a guy who did do those things and lived to pay the price.
For example, if you think that using interfaces (in Java) is usually the best way to program, then you might have a nasty surprise coming at you when other people (damn them!) actually start to program against your code.
When the book's over, you might be as happy as Scrooge that there's still time to change things before it's too late.
Like Bloch's Effective Java, the lessons in this book are so important that they're destined to become diffused throughout the general programming culture and become known to people who haven't even heard of the book. But can you wait until all that filters down to you through osmosis?
Practical API Design: Confessions of a Java Framework Architect OverviewThe definitive guide to API design, this book will be required reading for all designers and engineers involved with the development, testing, and maintenance of APIs.

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Game Engine Architecture Review

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Game Engine Architecture ReviewJason Gregory's book offers a 10,000-foot view of game engine architecture, covering every system found in modern game engines, and detailing how those systems interact. It details the subjects at a level easily understood by anyone with a modest level of programming experience -- even non-programmers can gain a solid understanding of engine design from the book. This would make a great first book for anyone interested in programming game engines, either as a hobby or a future career.
However, it is important to clarify the limits of the book. I do not consider this to be a programming book, since it does not present the material at a sufficiently low-level that would permit an inexperienced programmer to implement a game engine from the ground-up. It describes how the algorithms work in enough detail that you can understand the idea, but does not present complete code examples that would demonstrate exactly how the algorithms would be implemented. There are occasional code snippets, and brief examples from engines like Ogre, Unreal, and idtech. But most of the content is entirely prose.
Experienced programmers/game devs have the coding background to implement many of the designs described in the book from the level at which they are presented. But neophyte programmers will not find enough details in this book to implement a full game engine on their own. However, no one book could do an adequate job of detailing how to implement an entire game engine: learning to program a game engine from the ground-up requires a very large stack of books (especially for physics and AI). So it would be unfair to fault this book for what it is not.
The value of the book is in providing clear, prose descriptions of the functional blocks found in a game engine, covering alternate ways different engines implement certain features, and cross-referencing how those blocks interact.
Another positive is that the book benefits from a mature writing style. Unlike the "Oh wow! Cool! Dude! Whew, math is hard! {BG}" style of writing inflicted upon many intro/for-teens books, this book can be read by adults (and most teens) without any undue eye-rolling due to bad writing. Which, sad to say, is why I feel inclined to remark on this point. Granted, this book was written for a course a SoCal, so a more mature writing still is required. I do wish more games-related books would follow this convention, instead of assuming the reader is mentally bereft or a pre-teen.Game Engine Architecture OverviewA 2009 Game Developer Magazine Front Line Award Finalist, this book covers both the theory and practice of game engine software development, bringing together complete coverage of a wide range of topics. The concepts and techniques described are the actual ones used by real game studios like Electronic Arts and Naughty Dog. The examples are often grounded in specific technologies, but the discussion extends way beyond any particular engine or API. The references and citations make it a great jumping off point for those who wish to dig deeper into any particular aspect of the game development process. Intended as the text for a college level series in game programming, this book can also be used by amateur software engineers, hobbyists, self-taught game programmers, and existing members of the game industry. Junior game engineers can use it to solidify their understanding of game technology and engine architecture. Even senior engineers who specialize in one particular field of game development can benefit from the bigger picture presented in these pages.

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Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond (2nd Edition) Review

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Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond (2nd Edition) ReviewSoftware architecture really is unlike any other aspect of its design. The architecture has deeper meaning and larger scale than any other aspect, and can't be discussed in the same ways.
This book opens that discussion. Among the "architecture" books I've read lately, this is the only one to offer concrete advice on describing, presenting, and analyzing archtiectural features of a system. It identifies a number of documentation types and variations. It also identifies a number of different readers - developers, future architects, users, etc. - and addresses their different documentation needs.
The authors use a little UML, but not a lot. For one thing, standard UML works at too low a level for architectural discussion. Classes, and even hierarchies of class inheritance are such fine-grained entities that architecture gernerally won't address them. Instead, the authors offer a number of diagramming styles of their own. For once, I agree with the need for non-standard notation.
Even so, I think they under-utilize the existing standards in favor of their own terminology and notation. They could have used a UML profile for lots of the discussion. It would have had to be a new profile, however, not just a force-fit of the real-time profile. They also under-used the existing architecture standards (IEEE/ANSI, DoD, NASA, and more) in favor of their own discussion. Maybe their approach can be used in any of those frameworks, but that should have been more explicit.
I see only one major flaw in this book, the assumption that a software system's architecture describes the program delivered to a customer. That's way too narrow. A large system includes things like test harnesses, debug instrumentation, application-specific QA tools, and user documentation of many kinds. Those can be major undertakings of their own. They are intimately tied to the delivered software, and may constrain the actual product.
On the postivie side, this book offer an extensive real-world case study. That probably doubles the book's value, by putting a concrete face on the otherwise abstract discussion.
There are two ways to use this book: you can agree with it, or think about it and disagree with it. If you really think about it, though, you get it's full value whether you agree or not.
In other words, you can't lose by reading this book.Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond (2nd Edition) Overview"This new edition is brighter, shinier, more complete, more pragmatic, more focused than the previous one, and I wouldn't have thought it possible to improve on the original. As the field of software architecture has grown over these past decades, there is much more to be said, much more that we know, and much more that we can reflect upon of what's worked and what hasn't—and the authors here do all that, and more." —From the Foreword by Grady Booch, IBM Fellow

Software architecture—the conceptual glue that holds every phase of a project together for its many stakeholders—is widely recognized as a critical element in modern software development. Practitioners have increasingly discovered that close attention to a software system's architecture pays valuable dividends. Without an architecture that is appropriate for the problem being solved, a project will stumble along or, most likely, fail. Even with a superb architecture, if that architecture is not well understood or well communicated the project is unlikely to succeed.
Documenting Software Architectures, Second Edition, provides the most complete and current guidance, independent of language or notation, on how to capture an architecture in a commonly understandable form. Drawing on their extensive experience, the authors first help you decide what information to document, and then, with guidelines and examples (in various notations, including UML), show you how to express an architecture so that others can successfully build, use, and maintain a system from it. The book features rules for sound documentation, the goals and strategies of documentation, architectural views and styles, documentation for software interfaces and software behavior, and templates for capturing and organizing information to generate a coherent package. New and improved in this second edition:


Coverage of architectural styles such as service-oriented architectures, multi-tier architectures, and data models
Guidance for documentation in an Agile development environment
Deeper treatment of documentation of rationale, reflecting best industrial practices
Improved templates, reflecting years of use and feedback, and more documentation layout options
A new, comprehensive example (available online), featuring documentation of a Web-based service-oriented system
Reference guides for three important architecture documentation languages: UML, AADL, and SySML


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Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Concepts, Technology, and Design Review

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Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Concepts, Technology, and Design ReviewThis book is superb. I have read every SOA book available (up until Apr/06) because it's part of my job as a technology research analyst and all-around techno-geek. From those that I have read and studied, this is the only one I feel compelled to write a review about. AND - because I did have to go through it in such detail I'm going to raid my research notes and share with you a detailed review of not just the book, but each of its chapters.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Nothing special here, this is just a chapter that introduces the rest of the book. Call it a glorified table of contents if you will. At first I felt like skipping it altogether, but then I did what I'm supposed to do for my job and that is read each and every part. In the end, I'm glad I took the time for two reasons: By reading a summary of each of the chapters I got a good feel for what this book was going to cover and what it wasn't going to cover. Secondly, I liked the author's intro stuff about ideal and not so ideal (real) SOA. Kind of insightful and stinging at the same time. Still, though, this is still just a description of other chapters. It's also a chapter you can get for free at the book's web site.
Chapter 2 - Case Studies
Here the author provides background information for the two companies he uses as case studies. If you're into case studies, then you'll definitely want to read through this. But - I found the subsequent samples pretty easy to follow and I think you could get away with skipping this chapter if you really wanted to.
Chapter 3 - Introducing SOA
Here's where I started getting into the meat of the book. If you think you don't understand what soa is or what the industry's made of it or turned it into then you need to read this chapter. It breaks it all down and builds it all up again in a very systematic manner. Make sure you leave this chapter with an understanding of how primitive and contemporary variations of soa are different because the author uses these terms later.
Chapter4 - The Evolution of SOA
Finally someone who makes a distinction between specification and standard and gets it right. This chapter talks about the soa industry and how vendors are responsible for soa but are also causing problems at the same time. How standards organizations are working for soa but also competing at the same time. Pretty interesting stuff and even though this was the least technical chapter, not once was I bored. It ends by comparing Ssoa with older architectures. I especially like how the author differentiates between soa and "traditional" distributed architecture that uses web services. (hint: rpc has a lot to do with it)
Chapter 5 - Web services and primitive soa
I read the author's first soa book last year and this chapter seemed to repeat a few sections from that. But if I remember correctly it goes into more detail and provides case study examples that the first book didn't have. If you're a web services veteran you can probably skip this one.
Chapter 6 -Web Services and Contemporary SOA (Part I: Activity Management and Composition)
Here he goes up a gear and dives right into that scary thing we've been calling ws-* Everything from transactions to context mgmt to orchestration and so on is covered. I really felt the author did a brilliant job building this chapter up by starting with simple meps and building up to activity management and bpel and so on. He really showed how each adds a layer over the other and how all add layers to soa.
Chapter 7 - Web Services and Contemporary SOA (Part II: Advanced Messaging, Metadata, and Security)
Yup, the rollercoast ride continues here as he gets into addressing, reliable messaging, security and other ws-* specs. All of these are specs I had already heard about and I think this type of coverage is appropriate forwhere soa is going. I forgot to mention that in this chapter and 6 he introduces 'in plain english' sections that are hilarious. They are humorous analogies that compare these complex technologies to analogies he writes about a car wash. Good, fresh writing in the usual dull and dry techno world.
Chapter 8 - Principles of Service-Orientation
Essentially a whole bunch of theory about designing services and then eight specific 'principles' (dos and don'ts) about how to design services the right way for soa. I had to go back and reread this chapter after I finished the book. I sort of glanced thru it at first but then found out that later chapters really use these principles. When I went through it again I actually thought this was pretty important stuff. This really is the next oo. You can get this chapter for free at the book web site too.
Chapter 9 - Service Layers
STudy this if you're a application architect or enterprise architect. It shows what you canh do with services built with service-orientation. The diagrams showing different types of layers combined together are pretty cool.
Chapter 10 - SOA Delivery Strategies
If you're a PM you'll love this chapter. It gets into the different phases in a soa project and how you can reorganize them using 'delivery strategies' depending on your budgets and priorities. I'd pay extra close attention to the pros and cons parts where, after documenting these strategies in abstract, the author points out their true colors.
Chapter 11 + 12 - Service-Oriented Analysis I + II
Don't know where to start when it comes to figuring out your services? Well, the author lays it all out here. He provides a process for systemtically breaking down your business logic and divying it up into services. Chapter 12 is like an instruction manual about service model. Being froma web services background this was all new to me.
Chapter 13 - 16 - Service-Oriented Design I, II, III, IV
Roll up your sleeves man, because here is where you get into the real muck of building web services for an soa. There are a bunch of processes that hash out the nitty gritty of wsdl, xsd, and bpel and show you how to build services for the types of layers set up in ch.9. Tons of code and case study samples and tips for design. This is probably the most valuable part of the book for developers and architects.
Chapter 17- Fundamental WS-* Extensions
I forgot tomention that in chapters 6 and 7 no code samples are given. He only covered ws-* specs conceptually. All of the corresponding code is placed in this chapter. A bit inconvenient if you're a developer who wants to see the code while learning about the spec, but not tragic. The neat thing is he ties the code samples into the case studies. This was my first experience with ws-* in real world tyhpe scenarios.
Chapte r18 - SOA Platforms
The author documents j2ee and .net frameworks here first in total abstract and then about how they support the different parts of soa. This was very interesting because it related a lot of the concepts stuff to actual technology and the let you compare different technologies in how they support soa.
I recommend this book to colleagures and clients and I'm recommending it here. If you have questions about SOA then this book probably has the answers you're looking for. I say that because by the time I finished reading it I ran out of questions myself.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Concepts, Technology, and Design OverviewThis is a comprehensive tutorial that teaches fundamental and advanced SOAdesign principles, supplemented with detailed case studies and technologiesused to implement SOAs in the real world.***We'll have cover endorsements from Tom Glover, who leads IBM's WebServices Standards initiatives; Dave Keogh, Program Manager for Visual StudioEnterprise Tools at Microsoft, and Sameer Tyagi, Senior Staff Engineer, SunMicrosystems. All major software manufacturers and vendors are promotingsupport for SOA. As a result, every major development platform now officiallysupports the creation of service-oriented solutions.Parts I, II, and III cover basic and advanced SOA concepts and theory thatprepare you for Parts IV and V, which provide a series of step-by-step "howto" instructions for building an SOA. Part V further contains coverage of WS-*technologies and SOA platform support provided by J2EE and .NET.

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The Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures Review

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The Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures ReviewThis book is a repository of architectural techniques and knowledge that is intended to be customized per project. It is geared towards system architecture, of which software architect is one small discipline, which is true in the context of this book and the systems it refers too. The systems they are referencing are airplane systems, fighter jets, and other large systems.
I do believe the book is a great start in building a repository of architectural techniques and knowledge. One thing the repository must accomplish before it is really usable is being distributed electronically. The author says that is in the works.
The book is a goldmine of information and guidance. They include a ton of content geared towards the decision making process. It is in the format of Pitfalls, Negative consequences, and Mitigations.
Amazon has made the content searchable. You can check out the table of contents, and spend some time searching on topics, for example "architecture tools", "evaluations", or "performance". Also, if you search the web for MFESA or "Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures" you will find some presentation and papers done by the author, which will give you a good look at some of the material found in the book.
The authors state that this is a work in progress and this is only the beginning. Hopefully in coming content we will see some guidance on tactics as they are related to quality attributes. I have not seen a more complete compilation of quality attributes anywhere, but they stop at the quality attributes. They do for what I would consider a good reason, it would have double or tripled the size of the book if they would have picked a domain and covered tactics. They do cover architectural mechanisms, styles, and patterns.
They also cover decision-making techniques in detail, and a tactic is a design decision that enables control over a quality attribute. They dedicate an entire appendix to decision-making techniques.
Although the book is geared towards system architecture, it also applies 100% to software architecture. I have not found any information in the book that is not relevant to software architecture.
This is a must have reference for any system or software architect. Keep in mind it is not a process, it is a repository that is used to create an instance of a process. Every project is different to a certain degree, and because of that, every project needs its own instance of a process.The Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures OverviewThe architects of today's large and complex systems all too often struggle with the lack of a consistent set of principles and practices that adequately address the entire breadth of systems architecture. The Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures (MFESA) enables system architects and process engineers to create methods for effectively and efficiently engineering high-quality architecture for systems, subsystems, and software components.Meets the Needs of Specific ProjectsThe book begins by documenting the common challenges that must be addressed by system architecture engineering. It explores the major principles answering these challenges and forming the basis of MFESA. Next, the authors introduce MFESA, including its primary goals, inputs, tasks, outputs, and assumptions. Then they describe the fundamental concepts and terminology on which the systems architecture engineering is founded. This is followed by a description of each of the ten system architecture engineering tasks including associated goals and objectives, preconditions, inputs, steps, postconditions, work products, guidelines, and pitfalls.Finally, the book documents the relationship between quality and architecture, explains the quality model underlying MFESA, and provides a summary of MFESA method framework, as well as a list of points to remember and future directions planned for MFESA.Explains Specific RationalesOrganized as a handy desk reference, this book harnesses more than 100 years of the authors' combined professional experience to provide extensive guidelines, best practices, and tips on avoiding possible pitfalls. It presents a direct rationale of why steps are taken, how things can go wrong, and guidance for how and when to tailor the model for a system's specific context.

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Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach Review

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Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach ReviewThis a broad and deep book on all things software architecture except the architecting process (for process, one recommended read is "Process Software Architecting" by Eeles/Cripps). Several readerships will benefit from "Just Enough Software Architecture":
- As an experienced IT architect, I do not necessarily agree with everything in the book (this does not come as a surprise, as architects have opinions). That said, I certainly learned a lot that I can apply immediately on my projects and some of the more provocative statements challenge me to leave my comfort zone (or at least consider doing so).
- Junior architects can use the book both as a tutorial and as a reference when/while growing in their profession.
- Developers with a "who needs architects" mindset (hopefully) will understand architects and modelers much better after having read this book, and appreciate the value of archtecture.
Things I liked in particular:
- Overall vision and message of pragmatism sent
- The risk-driven approach increases chances to get accepted both in agile development and in more traditional architecture communities
- There is a lot of practical advice e.g. in Chapters 10, 11 and 15
- The author is in command of a large body of relevant related work (both industra and academia) and puts them in perspective adequately
- Editorial quality: structure, figures, command of the English language (some words and expressions a bit be hard to comprehend for non-native speaker)
Some room for improvements (2nd edition?):
- Not all metaphors and analogies work internationally, e.g. not all IT people are sports fans that follow baseball or know what a rookie is
- The connection between parts 1 and 2 could be a bit stronger, even if loose coupling generally is a good thing; e.g., some more backward references
In summary, I'd say Just Enough Software Architecture is a highly recommended read for every architect in touch with development reality and every developer with a desire to build complex systems that will stand the test of time.Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach OverviewThis is a practical guide for software developers, and different than other software architecture books. Here's why:
It teaches risk-driven architecting. There is no need for meticulous designs when risks are small, nor any excuse for sloppy designs when risks threaten your success. This book describes a way to do just enough architecture. It avoids the one-size-fits-all process tar pit with advice on how to tune your design effort based on the risks you face.
It democratizes architecture. This book seeks to make architecture relevant to all software developers. Developers need to understand how to use constraints as guiderails that ensure desired outcomes, and how seemingly small changes can affect a system's properties.
It cultivates declarative knowledge. There is a difference between being able to hit a ball and knowing why you are able to hit it, what psychologists refer to as procedural knowledge versus declarative knowledge. This book will make you more aware of what you have been doing and provide names for the concepts.
It emphasizes the engineering. This book focuses on the technical parts of software development and what developers do to ensure the system works not job titles or processes. It shows you how to build models and analyze architectures so that you can make principled design tradeoffs. It describes the techniques software designers use to reason about medium to large sized problems and points out where you can learn specialized techniques in more detail.
It provides practical advice. Software design decisions influence the architecture and vice versa. The approach in this book embraces drill-down/pop-up behavior by describing models that have various levels of abstraction, from architecture to data structure design.

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Architecture and Principles of Systems Engineering (CRC Complex and Enterprise Systems Engineering) Review

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Architecture and Principles of Systems Engineering (CRC Complex and Enterprise Systems Engineering) ReviewThis text is a broad high level survey of systems engineering in the age of model-driven system development. Looking at the table of contents the coverage is extensive, but the depth on any given topic is pretty shallow. If you are a university student who hasn't had any exposure to systems engineering concepts (or software engineering concepts for that matter), then this text isn't a bad introduction to the terminology, (some of the)tools and process descriptions in modern systems engineering, especially if coupled with a project-based course where you can have a chance to apply some of these concepts directly. For such an audience, add one star to my rating. If, on the other hand, you are a practicing systems engineer (or software engineer), even if you're not all that familiar with the model-driven systems engineering paradigm, then this text is likely to come up a bit short, given its lack of depth on any given topic. For this second group of potential readers, take one star away from my rating. I was going to be cheeky and say that this is a great book for talking about systems engineering, but not so much if your interest is in doing systems engineering.
The description on the back cover is definitely over-hyped - publisher's perogative, I guess. You will not learn the obstacles, both technical and cultural, that model-driven systems engineering faces today. You will not learn UML or SysML. Executable models are introduced in the case studies, but again with little depth. Domain-specific modeling versus generic modeling (with say UML) is a hot topic not covered in the text. The advantages and disadvantages of auto-generated software are also not covered. Problems of integrating the model-based paradigm with legacy sysems is also missing. Pattern-based architectural development is also not covered. The case studies themselves specifically address classroom exercises with assignments and intructor responses, so depth seems intended to be obtained beyond the text through instructor interaction and hands on development. Each chapter could be expanded into an entire book.
What would I recommend as a more bit more practical introduction to model-driven systems engineering which addresses an audience both inside and outside the university classroom? Your favorite book on UML, A Practial Guide to SysML by Friedenthal, Moore and Steiner, and Systems Engineering with SysML/UML by Weilkiens. The Friedenthal et al. book has an introductory section which motivates the model-based systems engineering paradigm. I'd also recommend software architecture books, Documenting Software Architectures 2nd ed by Clements, Bachman, Bass and Garlan and Software Architecture: Foundations, Theory, and Practice by Taylor, Medvidovic and Dashofy (a bit more theoretical and not particularly model-based).
Don't be surprised if you see my copy available soon on Amazon Marketplace. I guarantee that it is in like new condition :)Architecture and Principles of Systems Engineering (CRC Complex and Enterprise Systems Engineering) OverviewThe rapid evolution of technical capabilities in the systems engineering (SE) community requires constant clarification of how to answer the following questions: What is Systems Architecture? How does it relate to Systems Engineering? What is the role of a Systems Architect? How should Systems Architecture be practiced?A perpetual reassessment of concepts and practices is taking place across various systems disciplines at every level in the SE community. Architecture and Principles of Systems Engineering addresses these integral issues and prepares you for changes that will be occurring for years to come. With their simplified discussion of SE, the authors avoid an overly broad analysis of concepts and terminology. Applying their substantial experience in the academic, government, and commercial R&D sectors, this book is organized into detailed sections on: Foundations of Architecture and Systems EngineeringModeling Languages, Frameworks, and Graphical ToolsUsing Architecture Models in Systems Analysis and DesignAerospace and Defense Systems EngineeringDescribing ways to improve methods of reasoning and thinking about architecture and systems, the text integrates concepts, standards, and terminologies that embody emerging model-based approaches but remain rooted in the long-standing practices of engineering, science, and mathematics. With an emphasis on maintaining conceptual integrity in system design, this text describes succinct practical approaches that can be applied to the vast array of issues that readers must resolve on a regular basis. An exploration of the important questions above, this book presents the authors' invaluable experience and insights regarding the path to the future, based on what they have seen work through the power of model-based approaches to architecture and systems engineering.

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Game Development Tools Review

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Game Development Tools ReviewGame Development Tools deserves ongoing recommendation for any collection catering to professional game developers, and offers the latest research on tools development. It's the first in-depth coverage of game tools and offers guidelines, applications of tools, and assessments of third-party applications for game developers seeking specific, advanced insights. From building pipelines to GPU debugging using NVIDIA's Parallel Nsight, this packs in details to help game and graphics programmers create better games in less time.
Game Development Tools OverviewThis book brings the insights of game professionals, DCC creators, hardware vendors, and current researchers together into a collection that focuses on the most underrepresented and critical part of game production: tools development. The first gems-type book dedicated to game tools, this volume focuses on practical, implementable tools for game development professionals. Topics range from asset tracking to improving remote version control performance to robust and efficient IO. Technical artists, as well as game play, audio, and graphics programmers will find new tools to improve work flow and help build games faster.

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Algorithms for Visual Design Using the Processing Language Review

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Algorithms for Visual Design Using the Processing Language ReviewI pre-ordered this book thinking (from the title and from Terzidis's bio) that it would be a book on advanced visual design algorithms. You'd think that a book with "algorithms" in the title would put an emphasis on optimizing techniques for difficult problems - it doesn't. I didn't get to peruse the table of contents before purchase, and now I wish that I had, because it covers a lot of the same information as other books I own (Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics), Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment, and Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art (Foundation)).
If you need a book that will have algorithms to find intersections between lines and bezier curves, 2d and 3d collision detection between irregular shapes, how to utilize vector files with soft body dynamics in processing, or how to efficiently time shift video on a pixel-by-pixel or line-by-line basis; if you need a book that will be like Introduction to Algorithms for visual design in processing, you'll have to keep waiting.
If, however, you are looking for a more in-depth discussion of issues about at level of the examples included with processing, then you're in a right place, if not THE right place. Like almost all the books mentioned above, this book doesn't take for granted that you're experienced with processing (even the operators are explained in the first chapter). All the lessons are explained well, and in addition, there's even a nod to other issues such as physical computing with arduino. There are questions at the end of each section, and answers in the back of the book. At this time, I'd recommend it about as much as I'd recommend each of the books above except Shiffman's, which I consider the best introductory text on Processing.Algorithms for Visual Design Using the Processing Language OverviewAs the first book to share the necessary algorithms for creating code to experiment with design problems in the processing language, this book offers a series of generic procedures that can function as building blocks and encourages you to then use those building blocks to experiment, explore, and channel your thoughts, ideas, and principles into potential solutions. The book covers such topics as structured shapes, solid geometry, networking and databases, physical computing, image processing, graphic user interfaces, and more.

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