Software Architecture in Practice, Third Edition

3. The Many Contexts of Software Architecture

People in London think of London as the center of the world, whereas New Yorkers think the world ends three miles outside of Manhattan.

—Toby Young

In 1976, a New Yorker magazine cover featured a cartoon by Saul Steinberg showing a New Yorker’s view of the world. You’ve probably seen it; if not, you can easily find it online. Looking to the west from 9th Avenue in Manhattan, the illustration shows 10th Avenue, then the wide Hudson River, then a thin strip of completely nondescript land called “Jersey,” followed by a somewhat thicker strip of land representing the entire rest of the United States. The mostly empty United States has a cartoon mountain or two here and there and a few cities haphazardly ...