Bounded Context

Bounded Context is presented as a central pattern in Domain-Driven Design, especially in strategic design for dealing with large models and teams. Instead of trying to unify a whole domain model, DDD divides a large system into separate contexts with their own unified models and explicit relationships.

Reading notes

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• A model supports communication through a Ubiquitous Language and also serves as the conceptual basis for software design.
• A single unified model becomes harder to maintain as the domain grows and different groups use subtly different vocabularies.
• DDD recognizes that total unification of a large domain model is not feasible or cost-effective.
• Bounded Contexts can contain unrelated concepts and also different models of shared concepts such as products and customers.
• Different contexts may require mapping between polysemic concepts for integration.
• Cultural differences are a common reason for drawing boundaries between contexts.
• Boundaries can also appear within a single application, such as between in-memory and relational database models.
• Relationships between Bounded Contexts are usually shown with a context map.
• Eric Evans’s book and Vaughn Vernon’s book are listed as further reading, along with an example of a bubble context in legacy systems.