Architecture Courses | Service-Oriented Architecture

Service-oriented architecture, or SOA, is a hot topic in business today. You may have read about service-oriented architectures and be wondering how they can affect your business as well as how they can be of use to you. By looking at it from both a real-world perspective as well as a technical perspective, you will forge a solid understanding of service-oriented architecture from which you can jump off to implementing this technology within your business.

Defining Service-Oriented Architectures

Essentially, a service is the implementation of some step in one or more business processes, and a service-oriented architecture takes advantage of those services. More importantly, service-oriented architectures have many benefits for businesses, including enabling better alignment of business requirements and technology. Service-oriented architectures also allow services to be easily swapped out or reused for different purposes. And a service-oriented architecture gives your business the ability to leverage existing services easily while also leaving the option to write new services to fulfill specific purposes.

Service-oriented architectures rely heavily on programming in XML, a text-based mark up language that enables developers to define their own specific structure of data. However, one major benefit of setting up a service-oriented architecture is that it doesn't matter which language or protocol is used. Instead, the process can be written to be able to be used across many platforms.

One simple example of service-oriented architecture would be a program that installed on a computer that can organize a user's digital music library. The program may work best if it has access to the Internet and can utilize a service - looking up the name of a CD or song title in a large music database, for example, or giving access to an online store that uses the same database in a different manner. Service-oriented architectures are essentially about giving existing services new functionality.

How Service-Oriented Architectures Can Benefit a Business

When used by businesses, service-oriented architectures can make it possible for the establishment of, for example, a complete online registration process. This process could include a way to send the registrant an email with specific directions to the facility without requiring the person to go to a third-party website for that information. Instead, a program could be written to pull the information directly from the registration application, reference the third-party website, and seamlessly integrate the response into the confirmation email.

The same could hold true for weather information - the program could give the user information about the weather based on both the user's zip code and the zip code for the location of the training. This would enable the business to offer a value-added service in its emails - the weather information would be provided directly, rather than from a third-party site that the end user would have to access independently, and would be personalized. Other items involved in the service-oriented architecture could include scheduling, registration, and credit card processing.

Services could also allow different ways to access a single database. Using a real-world example of service-oriented architecture, a company could make its database of books and music available to outside users as a service, and the users could choose to create processes that pull particular information out of that database. For example, someone could create a process that allows visitors to a website to search an artist name within that larger database, and the results returned would only encompass information relating to compact discs, rather than to book titles that also mentioned the name.

Taking an example of service-oriented architecture from the business world, a database of courses could be utilized as a service to give different individuals access to different aspects of the database in different manners. Trainers, for example, could be given access to a thick client application that enables them to search a complete database, including courses that are not made available to the public. The public, on the other hand, could be given access to a web-based application through which it could search for courses falling on particular dates or covering particular topics. And sales people could be given even a different way to access that database to find out not only when courses are available but in which locations, leading to weather information and driving directions. All of this could be accomplished seamlessly using service-oriented architectures, without needing to create multiple databases for multiple users.

Making Adjustments More Easily with Service-Oriented Architectures

One difference between a service-oriented architecture and a more traditional development mode is that service-oriented architectures allow a company to hand over a more focused set of requirements to its IT team. In addition, while the full establishment of a service-oriented architecture can take an extended period of time, an individual service can be built in a few weeks. This means that there is room for easier adjustments to be made on a service and time for mistakes to be caught earlier in the process, which can further benefit a business.

Conclusion

Essentially, a service-oriented architecture can be a huge benefit for any company that uses Web-based applications. It can provide new functionality for programs written on outdated platforms and it can save developers time in not needing to write new processes when useful ones already are in existence. While service-oriented architectures may be the hot topic of the moment, it seems clear that they will continue to be an important part of business for many years to come.

About the Author

Charlie Fink is the vice president of product development and delivery for WestLake Training and Development. He has been designing and developing leading software solutions for over 15 years and has also developed client training focused on use and support of custom software systems. Prior to joining WestLake, Charlie was the vice president and chief product architect for the Arlington Group, as well as a principal of AEC software. To learn more about information technology training, please visit http://www.westlaketraining.com.

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Architecture Courses | Typical Golf Course Architecture

The vast majority of golf courses today have 18 holes as a staple of their golf course architecture. There are however, a few courses still around that have only nine holes... this usually comes about as a result of the budget available to build the course or the land available at the time the golf course architecture is laid out.

In the beginning seaside golf course architecture was referred to as links type golf courses. This is because these golf courses were the link between the sea and the farmland.

Most typical golf courses are between 5,000 and 7,000 yards long. Of course, there are still a few monster courses out there that are longer, but I would suggest if you're just starting out that you leave those types of courses to the better players... or those monster mash type of fun golf outings.

The architecture of golf courses are set up so that every hole you play will either be par three, par four or a par 5. If you're thinking of a par two, you're thinking of miniature golf... and if you're thinking of a par six, well... there may be a few out there used as gimmicks as part of the golf course architecture; but by and large they are rare.

Par refers to the amount of strokes a reasonably competent player should use in order to get the golf ball from the green to the inside of the cup.

The thing to keep in mind with par is that essentially par is based on two of those strokes being putting strokes... three putts isn't good, and one putting is the goal.

If you stop and think about it for a moment and do the math, in a standard round of golf about half of the strokes allocated, are allocated putts. So, if you have visited my website it's no wonder why I put so much emphasis on practicing your putting.

Here's a quick tip then... if you want to immediately start shaving strokes off of your golf game, then practice your putting. Golf course architecture is laid out to put a premium on putting... part three's equal one full swing and two putts... par fours equal two full swings and two putts... par fives equal three full swings and two putts.

In the United States, most golf course architecture consists of total par being 72 strokes. This consists of 10 par fours, four par threes, and four par fives. Having said this you of course can find golf course architecture with total par being anywhere from 60 to 74... almost anything can go.

So get out there and start improving your golf game and you'll soon not only be enjoying the game more but you'll also be gaining a greater understanding and appreciation for the golf course architecture.

Discover the secrets of getting your golf game to the next level. Whether you're just beginning, need some fine tuning, or just tired of playing bad golf... I can help. Stop by http://www.golf-ology.com and stop wasting time trying to get better on your own... that's not a good plan. I doesn't matter what part of your game needs help, whether you need golf tips your long game, your mid game, or your short game, you'll find the golf tips and golf instruction that will get you off the tee an on the green.

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Architecture Courses | Architectural Rendering Courses

Given the popularity and the numerous benefits that computer-assisted architectural rendering provides, most architects and architecture students want to get the necessary training that they need so that they can do their own rendering. The good news is that there are a number of sources from which they can obtain the training that they need to be able to use computer-assisted architectural rendering.

One of these sources is the Internet, which offers a number of courses in architectural rendering. Among these courses, one of the most popular is training on how to use AutoCAD, which is the software that most people use in architectural rendering. As with other online courses, taking an online course in AutoCAD offers a number of advantages as well as some disadvantages.

Advantages and disadvantages of online courses

One of the advantages in taking an AutoCAD course online is that you can learn the program at your own pace from your own home or office, which makes it very convenient for you. In addition to this, you can still continue with the course even if you are out of town or in another country because all you need is an Internet connection and your laptop. Moreover, the cost of an online course, which is about $700 per course, is cheaper compared to going to a campus because going to campuses involves incurring other costs apart from tuition fees.

However, there are also some disadvantages in taking an online AutoCAD course. One of these is that, given that you can take the course on your own time, there may be times when you will find it hard to find the motivation to learn the course. In addition to this, getting answers to your questions may take some time because your professors may only be able to answer your queries after a period of about 12 to 24 hours.

Given the demand for computer-assisted architectural rendering, there are now a number of sources from which people can access courses to teach them how to use the tools they need for architectural rendering, which includes programs like AutoCAD. However, apart from the advantages that online courses bring, there are also some disadvantages that people need to be aware of so that they can prepare for the responsibility of taking an online course.

Architectural Rendering provides detailed information on Architectural Rendering, 3D Architectural Rendering, Digital Architectural Rendering, Architectural Rendering Software and more. Architectural Rendering is affiliated with CAD Software.

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