Software Architecture for Not Yet Techies

Software architecture is the design methods and techniques for creating efficiently designed and operating applications programs. Most of us instinctively understand that'd be stupid to start building a house without a blueprint drawn up by an architect -- how would the contractor know how big of a basement to dig? Where would the kitchen go? The master bedroom? Software architecture is the process of similarly designing programs so that developers just have to come along just like carpenters and hammer the nails where there're told.

However, many applications programmed by businesses through the years were not well planned in advance. The accounting department would just tell the IT department that it needed a program to compute the latest industry tax code and the head of the IT department gave it to a senior programmer who gave the boring parts to junior programmers and they all started writing code and kept going until late at night. In the end, the program worked, but it could use half the code and been done in half the time had someone planned its use of data and systems resources and its business logic in advance.

So software architecture is a reaction to the growing complexity of modern software. After all, these days a program for the accounting department will accept financial data from all departments, will be on every accountant's desktop PC instead of a central mainframe and will communicate directly with the IRS -- not to mention the company's intranet and with outside contractors through extranets.

Programmers can no longer get by just on lack of sleep. They must look at programs from multiple viewpoints and use software architecture to design a system with an understanding of system principles. They must look at:

1. The technology - the physical stack
2. The object or data model
3. The user - the behavioral view

The observable properties of a software system: static and dynamic forms.

That is, other modules import separate operational data from analytic data.

Software architecture is the integration of software development methodologies and models -- it extends software engineering. It looks at the components, connections and qualities of a system.

It starts with an architectural description. Software architecture techniques include:

1. Reusable assets
2. General purpose programming languages
3. Special purpose programming languages
4. Modeling languages and notations - this includes Uniform Modeling Language / UML and other models

Software architecture can use ADL / Architectural Description Language to describe systems on an abstract level. It must also ensure that a program fits into the enterprise architecture. It uses Design Structure Matrix (DSM).

1. Inception
2. Elaboration
3. Construction
4. Deployment and transition

The five phases of software architecture:

1. Predesign
2. Domain analogies
3. Schematic design
4. Design development
5. Building

Next: Software engineering