Architectural Design

 Architectural Design
Slide Set to accompany
Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s
Approach, 7/e
by Roger S. Pressman

Slides copyright © 1996, 2001, 2005, 2009 by Roger S. Pressman

For non-profit educational use only

May be reproduced ONLY for student use at the university level when used in conjunction
with Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach, 7/e. Any other reproduction or use is
prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

All copyright information MUST appear if these slides are posted on a website for student
use.

1
Why
Architecture?
The architecture is not the operational software. Rather,
it is a representation that enables a software engineer
to:
(1) analyze the effectiveness of the design in meeting its
stated requirements,
(2) consider architectural alternatives at a stage when
making design changes is still relatively easy, and
(3) reduce the risks associated with the construction of
the software.

2
Why is Architecture
Important?
 Representations of software architecture are
an enabler for communication between all
parties (stakeholders) interested in the
development of a computer-based system.
 The architecture highlights early design
decisions that will have a profound impact on
all software engineering work that follows
and, as important, on the ultimate success of
the system as an operational entity.
 Architecture “constitutes a relatively small,
intellectually graspable mode of how the
system is structured and how its components
work together” [BAS03].

3
Architectural
Descriptions
 The IEEE Computer Society has proposed IEEE-Std-
1471-2000, Recommended Practice for Architectural
Description of Software-Intensive System, [IEE00]
 to establish a conceptual framework and vocabulary for use
during the design of software architecture,
 to provide detailed guidelines for representing an architectural
description, and
 to encourage sound architectural design practices.
 The IEEE Standard defines an architectural description (AD)
as a “a collection of products to document an architecture.”
 The description itself is represented using multiple views, where
each view is “a representation of a whole system from the
perspective of a related set of [stakeholder] concerns.”

4
Architectural Genres
 Genre implies a specific category within the
overall software domain.
 Within each category, you encounter a number
of subcategories.
 For example, within the genre of buildings, you
would encounter the following general styles:
houses, condos, apartment buildings, office
buildings, industrial building, warehouses, and so
on.
 Within each general style, more specific styles might
apply. Each style would have a structure that can be
described using a set of predictable patterns.

5
Architectural
Styles
Each style describes a system category that encompasses: (1) a
set of components (e.g., a database, computational modules)
that perform a function required by a system, (2) a set of
connectors that enable “communication, coordination and
cooperation” among components, (3) constraints that define
how components can be integrated to form the system, and
(4) semantic models that enable a designer to understand the
overall properties of a system by analyzing the known
properties of its constituent parts.
 Data-centered architectures
 Data flow architectures
 Call and return architectures
 Object-oriented architectures
 Layered architectures

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Data-Centered
Architecture

7
Data Flow
Architecture

8
Call and Return
Architecture

9
Layered
Architecture

10
Architectural
Patterns
 Concurrency—applications must handle multiple
tasks in a manner that simulates parallelism
 operating system process management pattern
 task scheduler pattern
 Persistence—Data persists if it survives past the
execution of the process that created it. Two
patterns are common:
 a database management system pattern that applies
the storage and retrieval capability of a DBMS to the
application architecture
 an application level persistence pattern that builds
persistence features into the application architecture
 Distribution— the manner in which systems or
components within systems communicate with one
another in a distributed environment
 A broker acts as a ‘middle-man’ between the client
component and a server component.

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Architectural
Design
 The software must be placed into context
 the design should define the external entities
(other systems, devices, people) that the
software interacts with and the nature of the
interaction
 A set of architectural archetypes should be
identified
 An archetype is an abstraction (similar to a class)
that represents one element of system behavior
 The designer specifies the structure of the
system by defining and refining software
components that implement each
archetype

12
Architectural
Context
Safehome Internet-based
Product system

control
panel target system: surveillance
Security Function function
uses
homeowner peers
uses

uses

sensors sensors

13
Archetypes
Cont rolle r

com m unicat e s wit h

Node

De t e ct or Indicat or

Figure 10.7 UML re lat ionships for Safe Hom e se curit y funct ion arche t ype s
(adapt e d from [BOS00]) 14
Component
Structure

Sa fe Hom e
Exe c ut ive

Func t ion
se le c t ion

Ext e rn al
Co mmu n icat io n
Man ag e me n t

Se c urit y Surve illa nc e Hom e

m a na ge m e nt

GUI Int e rne t

Int e rfa c e

Cont rol de t e c t or a la rm
pa ne l ma na ge me nt proc e s s ing
proc e s s ing

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Refined Component
Structure
SafeHo me
Executive

Ext e rna l
Communic a t ion
Ma na ge me nt

Security

GUI Internet
Interface

Co n t ro l d e t e ct o r alarm
p an e l m an ag e m e n t p ro ce ssin g
p ro ce ss in g

Ke y p ad
p ro ce ss in g phone
sch e d u le r
co m m u n icat io n

CP d isp lay
fu n ct io n s
alarm

se sennnso
se sorrr
so
se nsso r
sseennnso
se s oorrr
s se
e nns so
orr

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Analyzing Architectural
Design
1. Collect scenarios.
2. Elicit requirements, constraints, and environment description.
3. Describe the architectural styles/patterns that have been chosen
to address the scenarios and requirements:
• module view
• process view
• data flow view
4. Evaluate quality attributes by considered each attribute in
isolation.
5. Identify the sensitivity of quality attributes to various
architectural attributes for a specific architectural style.
6. Critique candidate architectures (developed in step 3) using the
sensitivity analysis conducted in step 5.

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Architectural
Complexity
 the overall complexity of a proposed
architecture is assessed by considering the
dependencies between components within the
architecture [Zha98]
 Sharing dependencies represent dependence
relationships among consumers who use the same
resource or producers who produce for the same
consumers.
 Flow dependencies represent dependence relationships
between producers and consumers of resources.
 Constrained dependencies represent constraints on the
relative flow of control among a set of activities.

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ADL
 Architectural description language (ADL) provides
a semantics and syntax for describing a software
architecture
 Provide the designer with the ability to:
 decompose architectural components
 compose individual components into larger architectural
blocks and
 represent interfaces (connection mechanisms) between
components.

19
An Architectural Design
Method
customer requirements
"four bedrooms, three baths,
lots of glass ..."

architectural design

20
Deriving Program
Architecture

Program
Architecture

21
Partitioning the
Architecture
 “horizontal” and “vertical”
partitioning are required

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Horizontal
Partitioning
 define separate branches of the
module hierarchy for each major
function
 use control modules to coordinate
communication between functions
function 3
function 1 function 3

function 2
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Vertical Partitioning:
Factoring
 design so that decision making and
work are stratified
 decision making modules should
reside at the top of the architecture
decision-makers

workers

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Why Partitioned
Architecture?
 results in software that is easier to
test
 leads to software that is easier to
maintain
 results in propagation of fewer side
effects
 results in software that is easier to
extend

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Structured Design
 objective: to derive a program
architecture that is partitioned
 approach:
 a DFD is mapped into a program
architecture
 the PSPEC (Process Specification)
and STD (Software Test
Description) are used to indicate
the content of each module
 notation: structure chart

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Flow
Characteristics

Transform flow

This edition of
SEPA does not
cover transaction
mapping. For a
detailed
discussion see the
SEPA website
Transaction
flow

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General Mapping
Approach
isolate incoming and outgoing flow
boundaries; for transaction flows, isolate
the transaction center

working from the boundary outward, map

DFD transforms into corresponding modules

add control modules as required

refine the resultant program structure

using effective modularity concepts

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General Mapping
Approach
 Isolate the transform center by specifying incoming
and outgoing flow boundaries
 Perform "first-level factoring.”
 The program architecture derived using this mapping
results in a top-down distribution of control.
 Factoring leads to a program structure in which top-level
components perform decision-making and low-level
components perform most input, computation, and output
work.
 Middle-level components perform some control and do
moderate amounts of work.
 Perform "second-level factoring."

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Transform
Mapping
b g h
a e f
d
c i
j
data flow model

x1 "Transform" mapping

x2 x3 x4

b c d e f g i

a h j

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Factori
ngdirection of increasing
decision making typical "decision
making" modules

typical "worker" modules

31
First Level
Factoring main
program
controller

input processing output

controller controller controller

32
Second Level
Mapping
main
D
C
control

B A
A
B
C

mapping from the D

flow boundary outward

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