Google Professional Cloud Architect Certification: 10. Development and Operations - Important Things To Know

Architects support application development and operations. For example, architects can help teams and organizations choose an application development methodology suitable for their needs. Options include waterfall, spiral, and agile methodologies. Agile methodologies work well in many cases, in part because of their focus on collaboration and rapid, incremental development. In addition to planning new feature work, application developers should invest time and resources to pay down technical debt.
Follow established recommended practices when designing APIs, such as orienting the API around entities, not functions performed on those entities. Include security considerations, such as authorizations and rate limiting, when designing APIs.
Testing should be automated. Developers can choose from a variety of testing frameworks to find one or more that fits well with their development processes.
When migrating applications and data to the cloud, consider data volumes and bandwidth when choosing a method to migrate data.
The GCP SDK is set of command-line tools and language-specific libraries for managing GPC resources. Most GPC services can be managed using the gcloud commands, but Cloud Storage and BigQuery have their own command-line utilities called gsutil and bq, respectively.

1. Know the defining characteristics of different application development methodologies. Waterfall is a linear process that does not repeat a phase once it is completed. Waterfall was an early application development approach. The need to know all requirements early in the development process is particularly problematic. Spiral methodologies repeat the main phases of the application development process. At the beginning of each iteration, stakeholders define the scope of work and identify risks. Agile methodologies are highly collaborative, transparent, and drive to release code frequently.
2. Understand technical debt. Application development requires trade-offs. Coding and design decisions have to be made in the broad business context, such as the need to deliver a functional product by a set date. When an application contains code that is intentionally suboptimal, that is a form of technical debt. Technical debt is repaid by refactoring code. Architects and developers should consider paying down technical debt as a necessary part of the software development process.
3. Know API best practices. APIs should be designed around resources and operations that can be performed on those resources. Resources have a resource name and a set of methods. The standard set of methods is list, get, create, update, and delete. When an API calls results in an error, a standard HTTP error should be returned. Additional detail about the error can be provided in the message payload.
4. Understand ways of securing APIs. APIs should enforce controls to protect the confidentiality and integrity of data and the availability of services. Confidentiality and integrity are protected in part by HTTPS-provided encryption. One way to authenticate users of API functions is to require an API key. API keys are strings of alphanumeric characters that uniquely identify a user to a service. JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) are commonly used for authenticating when making API calls. To prevent the unauthorized use of system resources, APIs should include resource-limiting mechanisms.
5. Understand that there are a variety of testing frameworks and test automation tools. Testing frameworks include data-driven, keyword-driven, model-based, test-driven, and hybrid testing. Developers have a choice of testing tools that range from functionally limited, language-specific tools to general-purpose testing platforms.
6. Know the different kinds of migrations. Cloud migration projects typically fall into one of three categories: lift and shift, move and improve, and rebuild in the cloud. There are several ways to transfer data during a migration. When deciding on a transfer method, consider volume of data, network bandwidth, workflow time constraints on data transfer, and location of data.
7. Understand how and when to use the GCP GDK. The GCP SDK is a set of command-line tools for managing Google Cloud resources. These commands allow you to manage infrastructure and perform operations from the command line instead of the console. The GCP SDK components are especially useful for automating routine tasks and for viewing information about the state of your infrastructure.