A Brief Survey of Software Architecture

Abstract

Abstract: Software of today is becoming larger and more complex. More powerful ways of structuring complexity are consequently required, whether it is about development methodologies, structural programming, naming conventions, configuration management, or, as is discussed in this report, software architecture. A software system’s architecture can be described as the “blueprint ” of a system at the highest level of abstraction, describing the main components and their most important interactions. We discuss in more detail how architectures can be described and the uses of such descriptions. Much research so far has also been dedicated to methods and case studies, to make the research of practical interest. This report describes how the quality of the software can be ensured to a certain degree through informal approaches – not least because an architectural description provides a common understanding around which different stakeholders can meet and discuss a system. Formal approaches are also emerging, and there are a number of formal languages for description of a system’s software architecture. This report presents a brief survey of the field of Software Architecture; both informal and formal approaches are covered and discussed. The report concludes with presenting the author’s planned research, aiming at answering how component-based architectures can be designed to handle change.