Web application architecture is all about learning how to build a stable ecosystem for your web applications. It involves learning about infrastructure, what works the best and what kind of tools you need to make it all come together.

It’s not easy to take a single standpoint approach to this, and instead we should take the approach of knowing what we need help with, and whether we can find a solution to that problem, because in other cases – we just need to apply that which we got.

I’ve gathered up a couple of resources to help you begin studying web application architecture, and I strongly believe that by the end of these books/courses, you’ll know much better as to which direction to take, and whether you’re missing something important.

Web Application Architecture

You can see in the above picture, the standard architecture of a web application, and so within these few resources; you’ll learn more about each, and better understand how to properly configure and setup your next web application projects.

In the above video, there is a lot of valuable discussion towards web application architecture and how to properly make the right decisions, based on the needs of your application(s). It’s a heavily AWS focused talk, but worth watching if you’re new to the subject.

Coursera

Web Application Architectures Coursera
Coursera is brilliant in terms of free knowledge, I think the post I wrote a few weeks back, on how to learn Python, proves it very well, and this course on application architecture is only going to extend that excellency.

You are going to get access to several topics that will help you deepen your knowledge of web app architecture. What are web applications, and where did they originate from? What design patterns do web apps use and how to understand them?

It’s focused around Ruby, and the Ruby on Rails framework; so perhaps you should make sure that you’re prepared to take on a new language.

If you’re serious about it, six weeks will feel like nothing to storm through this; but you’ll need to pick up some of your own learning material, to strengthen the core and prepare yourself better for starting to implement the newly found knowledge.

Next Gen Web Architecture for the Cloud Era

Next Gen Web Architecture for the Cloud Era
I think companies like DigitalOcean are the real examples of how the cloud is advancing, and how it is possible to scale large enterprise to serve everyone’s needs. I’m going to assume that you’re looking to build a project that’s not a weekend job, but instead something that will last for a while; until you decide what is the next best step to take.

This small PDF eBook will show you some examples of how good cloud architecture looks like for a web application, and is a great starting point to find more references and learning material.

Architecture of a Modern Web App

It’s only a year old publication, and so it serves pretty good purpose for those who want to take a look back at some of the web application history, and also the evolution and where we are heading. It’s only a few slides, go through them now or you’ll forget about it later.

Web Application Architecture: Principles, Protocols and Practices

Web Application Architecture: Principles, Protocols and Practices

This books goes over pretty much everything that you need to know about building web applications, it touches subjects like deep security issues, dynamic web application patterns, databases and plenty of HTTP stuff to keep you busy for a awhile. It’s a great book and highly recommended to be read and studied to the fullest.

Patterns For Large-Scale JavaScript Application Architecture

Patterns For Large Scale JavaScript Application Architecture.resized
It’s meant for those who work with JavaScript, but nonethless is a highly valuable resource due to its depth and logical approach to building large scale apps with JavaScript. If working on a significantly large JavaScript application, remember to dedicate sufficient time to planning the underlying architecture that makes the most sense. It’s often more complex than you may initially imagine.

Studying Resources for Web Application Architecture

I think this will get you started rather quickly, and combined with the video content that I embedded at the beginning of the post; you should begin understanding how it all comes together really quickly. I’m still learning myself, and so all of these resources have come in handy to me, and that’s the reason for sharing them with you.