Fundamentals of Software Architecture
by Mark Richards, Neal Ford · first published 2020
75% recommend19% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Well-organized overview of architecture styles such as layers, pipelines, microkernels, events, and microservices, plus soft skills; suggested for mid-level and senior developers and new architects.
Common criticism: One critic calls it mostly generic advice with too little substance.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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I'm assuming you're asking about software architecture and not building architecture since we're on HN. The O'Reilly book Fundamentals of Software Architecture [1] that came out this year is really broad and the best overview I've seen so far. [1]: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/fundamentals-of-so...
on “Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn about architecture?” ↗…some people suggest that they only buy physical books "where the information will be relevant for a long time."[2] In your opinion, which software engineering books fit the description? I'll start: Fundamentals of Software Architecture by Richards and Ford.[3] [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32888730 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32889804 [3]: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/fundamentals-of-software/9781492043447/
on “Ask HN: Which software engineering books will not be irrelevant in 5-10 years?” ↗…fiction I read: - Count Belisarius by Robert Graves - The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - The Expanse (all of them) - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir And the best books on software development were: - Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach by Mark Richards and Neal Ford - Multithreaded JavaScript by Thomas Hunter II and Bryan English - The Programmer's Brain by Felienne Hermans
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?” ↗Just finished attending a weekly book club (Fundamentals of Software Architecture by Mark Richards and Neal Ford -- great book for mid and senior developers, as well as new architects). 2 chapters weekly worked well because the chapters were short, and were mostly brief overviews…
on “I run a software book club” ↗…Enough Software Architecture - Domain Driven Design - Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software (Eric Evans) I recommend this one more than Vaughn Vernon's DDD. - Clean Architecture (Robert Martin) - Fundamentals of Software Architecture: an Engineering Approach - Design Patterns (Gamma et al) - Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems - Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley…
on “Ask HN: Must read applied system architecture articles?” ↗Congratulations! I would like to recommend the recent book “Fundamentals of Software Architecture” https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/fundamentals-of-softwar... It covers important foundations, walks through different architecture patterns. The last part of the book is about soft skills: communications,…
on “Ask HN: I've been promoted to Architect. What do I need to learn/do to excel?” ↗I think the book "Fundamentals of Software Architecture, an Engineering Approach" (Oreilly) is much closer to what most engineers need today than the GoF book. It covers topics such as layers, pipelines, microkernels, events, microservices, components, and…
on ““Design Patterns” Aren't (2002)” ↗I liked Fundamentals of Software Architecture/O'Reilly: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/fundamentals-of-softwar....
on “Ask HN: Any architects here? What's the best (serious) 'Architecture 101' book?” ↗…titles: - Building Event-Driven Microservices - Building Evolutionary Architectures - Building Micro-Frontends - Continuous API Management - Flow Architectures - Foundations of Scalable Systems - Fundamentals of Software Architecture - Learning Domain-Driven Design - Mastering API Architecture - Microservices Up and Running - Monolith to Microservices - Software Architecture Metrics - Software Architecture: The Hard Parts -…
on “Humble Tech Book Bundle: Software Architecture by O'Reilly” ↗Clean Architecture and Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach.
on “Just Enough Software Architecture (2010)” ↗…me and my ebook library has grown by around a 100 books this year... Tech book recommendations: 'Secure by Design', 'Designing Data-Intensive Applications', 'Building Secure and Reliable Systems' and 'Fundamentals of Software Architecture'. For scifi: 'Murderbot Diaries' and 'The Expanse' - both are just great entertainment
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗Fundamentals of Software Architecture is reasonable.
on “Ask HN: What are good books on SW architecture that don't sell microservices?” ↗…Software Complexity with Domain-Driven Design and F# By: Scott Wlaschin Get Programming with F# A guide for .NET developers By: Isaac Abraham Learning How to Learn By: Tesia Marshik , The Great Courses Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach By: Mark Richards , Neal Ford Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention By: Johann Hari Stein on Writing: A Master Editor Shares His Craft, Techniques, and Strategies By: Sol…
on “Ask HN: What was life like before and after a baby” ↗…something to talk about for an hour.” He was so amazingly kind and generous with his time. He’s not the only author we’ve gotten on the podcast! We’ve already published our episode with Mark Richards on “Fundamentals of Software Architecture” but we also have in the can and ready to go over the next few weeks Neal Ford of “Fundamentals of Software Architecture” and John Ousterhout of “A Philosophy of Software Design.” That’s not public knowledge…
on “Brian Kernighan on “The Practice of Programming” [video]” ↗The Architecture of Open Source Applications[1] book are available for free online, and that Fundamentals of Software Architecture is on LibGen. 1: https://aosabook.org/en/index.html
on “Software Architecture Patterns: 5 minute read” ↗