Boundary Control Entity Architecture
Focus on building maintainable software systems with a strong emphasis on domain logic
Overview
The Boundary-Control-Entity (BCE) pattern is a software architecture pattern that organizes code into three distinct layers, each with specific responsibilities. This separation of concerns leads to more maintainable, testable, and scalable applications.
Boundary
The interface layer between the system and external actors
- User interfaces and API endpoints
- Input validation and transformation
- Coarse-grained operations
Control
The orchestration layer containing business logic
- Actions / commands
- Stateless procedural logic
Entity
The domain model layer representing core business concepts
- Application data
- Domain objects and data classes
- Business entities
- Persistence mappings
Benefits
Separation of Concerns
Clear boundaries between presentation, logic, and data
Testability
Each layer can be tested independently
Maintainability
Changes are localized to specific layers
Scalability
Layers can be scaled independently
Reusability
Business logic can be shared across boundaries
Clarity
Intuitive organization matches business concepts