In order to have a software architecture design method that achieves quality attribute requirements several aspects of the method must be in place. First there must be some way to specify quality attribute requirements so that it can be determined whether the designed architecture can achieve them. Secondly, there must be some way for modularising the knowledge associated with quality attributes so that the design method does not need to know how to reason about all of the multiplicity of quality attributes that exist. Finally, there must be some way for managing the interactions among the quality attributes so that either the requirements can be satisfied or the ones that cannot be satisfied are identified. The authors describe a structure called a 'reasoning framework' as a modularisation of quality attribute knowledge. The requirements that the architecture must satisfy are specified as concrete quality attribute scenarios. Each reasoning framework provides mechanisms that will transform the architecture with respect to a given quality attribute theory. Within a reasoning framework, the authors distinguish between an architectural model and a quality attribute model and characterise the actions that a reasoning framework undertakes as basic architectural transformations. Finally, the process of identifying interactions among reasoning frameworks is begun so that conflicting requirements can be managed. The use of reasoning frameworks is situated inside an existing architectural design method so that a useful method exists while the open issues of designing to achieve quality attribute requirements are resolved.
This paper discusses the understanding of quality attributes and their application to the design of a software architecture. We present an approach to characterizing quality attributes and capturing architectural patterns that are used to achieve these attributes. For each pattern, it is important not only how the pattern achieves a quality attribute goal but also what impact the pattern has on other attributes. We embody this investigation of quality into the Attribute Driven Design Method for designing software architecture.
Abstract:Architectural styles have enjoyed widespread popularity in the past few years, and for good reason: they represent the distilled wisdom of many experienced architects and guide less experienced architects in designing their architectures. However, architectural styles employ qualitative reasoning to motivate when and under what conditions they should be used. In this paper we present the concept of an ABAS (Attribute-Based Architectural Style) which includes a set of components and connectors along with their topology, but which adds to this a quality attribute specific model that provides a method of reasoning about the behavior of component types that interact in the defined pattern. We will define ABASs in this paper, show how they are used, and argue for why this extension to the notion of architectural style is an important step toward creating a true engineering discipline of architectural design.
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