Software Design Methodology
Including many worked examples, exercises and case studies to reinforce theory and practice, this book provides in-depth coverage of large scale software systems and the handling of their design problems.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Software Design Methodology
Chapter 4: Software Architecture
OVERVIEW
This chapter introduces the notion of software architecture and architectural styles and discusses its role in software design. The objectives of the chapter are:
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To understand the general concept of architecture;
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To understand different views to the concept of software architecture;
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To understand the notion of software architectural styles;
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To understand the roles of software architecture and architectural styles in software design.
This chapter is organised as follows. Section 4.1 examines the general notion of architecture in other disciplines, which include buildings and computer hardware. Section 4.2 presents the most influential models of software architecture in the literature and discusses the roles of software architecture in software design. Section 4.3 introduces the notion of software architectural styles.
4.1 THE NOTION OF ARCHITECTURE
The original meaning of the word architecture, as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, is the art or science of building, especially the art or practice of designing edifices for human use taking both aesthetic and practical factors into account. It also means a style of building, a mode, manner, or style of construction or organisations, and structure. Therefore, let s start the examination of the notion with buildings.
4.1.1 Architecture in the discipline of buildings
Buildings can be classified according to their main function, or purpose. For example, houses are for residential accommodation; dovecotes are for housing doves; lighthouses are coastal towers with lights to warn approaching ships of dangers, etc. The basic lesson that we can learn from buildings ...
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