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

4 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Change-Reason Cohesion Single Reason to Change, Axis of Change	practice	Cohesion	The working test for a module boundary - things belong together if they change for the same reason, at the same time, driven by the same stakeholder, and share invariants.
Cohesion in Practice	concept	Cohesion	Whether the things inside a boundary belong together — measured by whether they change for the same reason and at the same time.
Connascence Connascence of Meaning, Static Connascence	concept	Cohesion	A graded vocabulary for coupling that ranks each dependency by how hard it is to change and how far apart the parties are, so boundaries can be argued with a ranking instead of adjectives.
Functional Cohesion	concept	Cohesion	The strongest form of cohesion, in which every element of a module contributes to a single well-defined task.