Terminology

454 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 areas454 Architecture Fundamentals16 Distributed Systems73 Data Architecture71 Cloud Architecture55 Networking13 API & Integration Architecture17 Reliability & Resilience16 Observability14 Performance & Capacity Engineering13 Security Architecture50 Cost Architecture & FinOps12 Business Architecture9 Architecture Communication8 Enterprise Architecture8 Legacy Modernization11 AI-Era Architecture15 Software Architecture & Engineering19 Architecture Patterns15 Architecture Decision-Making11 The Architect's Meta-Skills8

Kind Any concept166 practice107 pattern93 case-study26 tool26 protocol22 metric14

3 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Foreign Key Constraint	concept	Relational Modelling	A database-enforced rule that a referencing value must exist in the referenced table — referential integrity that no application bug can violate.
Normalisation Normal Forms	practice	Relational Modelling	Organising a schema so each fact is stored exactly once, removing the update anomalies that duplication creates.
Surrogate Key Synthetic Key	concept	Relational Modelling	A system-generated identifier with no business meaning, used as the primary key instead of a naturally occurring business value.