Summary
During this chapter, we have defined what we mean by architecture in the context of the AZ-304 exam, which is an important starting point to ensure we agree on what the role entails and precisely what is expected for the Azure certification.
We have walked through a brief history of business computing and how this has changed architecture over the years, from monolithic systems through to the era of personal computing, virtualization, the web, and ultimately to the cloud. We examined how each period changed the responsibilities and design requirements for the solutions built on top.
Finally, we had a brief introduction to modern working practices with IaC and project management methodologies, moving from waterfall to Agile, and how this has also changed how we as architects must think about systems.
In the next chapter, we will explore specific areas of architectural principles, specifically those aligned to the Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework.