Using Style to Understand Descriptions of Software Architecture

The software architecture of most systems is described informally and diagrammatically. In order for these descriptions to be meaningful at all, gures are understood by interpreting the boxes and lines in speci c, conventionalized ways 5]. The imprecision of these interpretations has a number of limitations. In this paper we consider these conventionalized interpretations as architectural styles and provide a formal framework for their uniform de nition. In addition to providing a template for precisely de ning new architectural styles, this framework allows for the proof that the notational constraints on a style are su cient to guarantee the meanings of all described systems and provides a uni ed semantic base through which di erent stylistic interpretations can be compared.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1993
• Where: SIGSOFT
• Authors: Gregory D. Abowd, Robert Allen, David Garlan
• Keywords: Architectural Styles, Erent Stylistic Interpretations, Interpretations, SIGSOFT 1993, Software Engineering