On the Role of Evolvability for Architectural Design

: Today software systems have to face frequent requests for change during their whole lifetime. It is very important that they can adapt to the frequently changing needs and are flexible for new features in order to remain useful and to conserve business value. This ability of software systems, known as evolvability, does still not gain the attention it deserves. This paper discusses, why evolvability has to be explicitly considered during the design of software architectures and why the current practice with focus on maintainability during software evolution is insufficient. Furthermore, some advice for tackling the problem is given.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: GI
• Authors: Stephan Bode
• Keywords: Frequent Requests, GI 2009, Software Systems, Theoretical Computer Science, Today Software Systems