Terminology

2205 terms, tools, patterns and metrics an architect is expected to use precisely. Each one gets a short explanation of what it is, and — where it matters — what it is commonly confused with. Search filters as you type; the column headers sort.

All areas2205 Architecture Fundamentals77 Distributed Systems107 Data Architecture110 Cloud Architecture94 Networking88 API & Integration Architecture82 Reliability & Resilience75 Observability70 Performance & Capacity Engineering72 Security Architecture86 Cost Architecture & FinOps71 Business Architecture67 Architecture Communication67 Enterprise Architecture66 Legacy Modernization71 AI-Era Architecture69 Software Architecture & Engineering71 Architecture Patterns71 Architecture Decision-Making63 The Architect's Meta-Skills61 Delivery & Release Engineering66 Platform Engineering & Developer Experience70 Testing & Quality Architecture66 Data Platform Architecture64 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics69 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk64

Kind Any concept794 practice734 pattern368 metric125 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

5 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Burstable Instance T-series, B-series	concept	Compute Models	An instance that provides a low baseline CPU allocation and accrues credits while idle, spendable for short periods of full performance.
Compute Models	concept	Compute Models	Virtual machines, containers, serverless functions and dedicated hardware — chosen by workload shape rather than by modernity.
Fragmentation Cost Bin-Packing Loss, Scheduling Fragmentation	concept	Compute Models	The capacity that exists in aggregate but cannot be used because it is scattered across nodes in pieces too small for the jobs that need it - the dominant inefficiency in indivisible-resource scheduling.
Gang Scheduling Co-scheduling, All-or-Nothing Allocation	concept	Compute Models	Allocating every resource a job needs simultaneously or not at all, so tightly-coupled distributed work cannot deadlock holding a partial allocation.
Instance Family	concept	Compute Models	A group of instance types sharing a resource profile — general purpose, compute optimised, memory optimised, storage optimised, accelerated — chosen by which resource the workload actually exhausts first.