structuresfor

Structuresfor is a conceptual framework used in software engineering to describe the collection of data structures and their relationships that a software system requires to fulfill its functional and nonfunctional requirements. The term emphasizes how choices about structure map to capabilities, performance, and maintainability rather than to a specific API or library.

Origin and usage: The phrase arises in design discussions and educational materials to distinguish a tailored set of structures from generic data models. It is not standardized or tied to a particular technology, but rather serves as a design lens for planning the data landscape of a system.

Core concepts: Structuresfor centers on explicit specification of entity types, attributes, invariants, and relationships. It promotes modularity by organizing structures around bounded contexts, and supports extensibility through templates or generic structures. It also considers performance, looking at access patterns, storage layouts, and the balance between normalization and denormalization.

Applications: Structuresfor informs schema design, in-memory data layouts, serialization formats, and API contracts. It aligns data organization with domain concepts, supporting domain-driven design by shaping aggregates and their boundaries to reflect real-world operations.

Example: In a content management system, a structuresfor set might include User, Role, Article, Comment, and Tag, with relationships such as a User authoring Articles and Comments, Articles bearing Tags, and access controlled by Roles. This concrete collection guides subsequent implementation choices.

Relation to other concepts: The idea overlaps with data modeling, information architecture, and software architecture. Critics warn that committing to a fixed structuresfor early can hinder adaptation, so it is often used as a planning aid rather than a prescriptive blueprint.