Summary

It is a no-brainer that design patterns must be mastered by software architects because they are part of their toolbox. However, I also tried to stress the fact that you should always exercise your own judgment in your own specific context. I advocate for a pragmatic software architecture practice. Remember that, contrary to some of the clean architecture rantings, the code is not the only place to look. A good software architect aims to achieve both fit for purpose (where clean architecture can certainly play a role), and fit for use, which is most of the time ensured by non-code layers.

In our next chapter, we will see that most modern applications are often heavily distributed and rely on existing components. This is what I call the growing importance of the ecosystem.