aws-appsync-community VS c4-notation

For context; the web application is built with React and TypeScript which makes calls to an AppSync API that makes use of the Lambda and DynamoDB datasources. We use Step Functions to orchestrate the flow of events for complex processing like purchasing and renewing policies, and we use S3 and SQS to process document workloads.

AWS AppSync is a serverless GraphQL offering by AWS, previously I authored a blog about AWS AppSync 101 which gets you up to speed with the capabilities of AppSync and how you can leverage them in your serverless applications.

Amplify Studio's Data allows you to define Amazon DynamoDB keeping in mind the properties with the right type and also powered with AWS AppSync where which generates a GraphQL schema under the hood.

AWS AppSync I'm keeping this section a bit shorter for you all, since AppSync is not something I have actually used personally, but have heard great things about. AppSync is another API option AWS has made available specifically for applications that want to take advantage of GraphQL or a Publish/Subscribe model. The GraphQL model may be of interest to front end developers that need to query multiple sources of data from one API endpoint, like databases or microservices. The Pub/Sub model I am more familiar with in the IoT hardware-communicates-with-software aspect, however this is also powerful for frontend developers looking to take advantage of real-time updates with serverless WebSocket connections. With AppSync, you also have caching, offline data synchronization, and real-time updates. You can learn more and check out the developer docs on the AWS Website.

5. Amazon Appsync

Amplify is a set of tools that allows full-stack web and mobile developers to create and build apps. It makes using AWS services, like our Cognito identity and access management service, or our managed GraphQL service AppSync, much simpler and straight forward to use.

This was the top-voted, long-awaited request for AppSync.

Appsync is the AWS service focus on creating flexible APIs, and Amplify is the framework that combines multiple AWS tools to help you build any type of Application.

Check out AppSync (https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/) or Apollo, you can deploy Apollo app to AWS as serverless application.

What you are describing sounds a lot like C4: https://c4model.com/

The C4 model [0] provides a mostly sensible structure and techniques for representing pure software systems across different abstraction levels.

For systems involving software and hardware, or other complex interfacing (both technology and bureaucracy) this starts to delve into the universe of systems engineering. There's a decent assembly of knowledge on that in the SEBoK [1].

As another commenter has already called out too, one of the most valuable sources of information is also _why_ a system is in its current form and _how_ that's changed over time. ADR's [2] really do a good job at nailing this for just about any scale.

[0]: https://c4model.com

[1]: https://sebokwiki.org

[2]: https://adr.github.io

There a various standards for documenting software architecture, like arc42 or C4. While useful and somewhat well-known (there is certainly a correlation here), here architecture documentation can be further simplified, particularly due to the self-similarity of project and component. Following is a small template, that can also serve as a project's and component's README:

I would suggest that if your architecture diagrams are a bunch of icons provided by AWS/Azure/GCP with lines pointing at each other... you are doing it wrong.

The 'what does this box do for my system' is vastly more important than the 'which in vogue offering from my cloud provider implements it'.

I highly suggest folks take a look at the C4 Model: https://c4model.com/

We often use abstractions in software engineering to communicate complex architectures and software systems. In this article, we’ll discuss how abstractions are inherently hierarchical and how the C4 model provides a nested structure for defining your software architecture. We’ll then cover how IcePanel allows you to create interactive and zoomable diagrams for your audience to zoom in and out of different levels of technical detail.

You probably want https://c4model.com/ which explains what a C4 architecture diagram is. (See the first footnote in the article.)

I looked at the book OP is talking about and it seems to be advocating 'C4' (https://c4model.com/). IMO this is the same kind of block diagrams we end up creating organically. I dunno that I'd call this 'modern' or anything special, it's just what everyone already does. I've done hundreds of these and not once has anyone ever mentioned 'C4' or anything being 'modern'. Shrug