Chapter 14. Case Study

Now let me try to tie together the different ideas I have presented. There is nothing like a good case study to check the validity of ideas. I'll choose an example that most readers will be able to relate to: a Web-based retail operation. I can't cover every possible capability one might want from such an operation, but I will at least go through some basic scenarios that should be enough to see what a software fortress architecture might look like in practice, and I will cover enough of the design process to give you an idea of the trade-offs you might be called upon to make.