Re: Where do we find software architecture?

On Wed, Jul 24, 2002 at 09:43:19PM -0700, David Orchard wrote:
> BTW, I see no contradiction in either of our positions with the glossary
> definition of architecture, "The software architecture of a program or
> computing system is the structure or structures of the system, which
> comprise software components, the externally visible properties of those
> components, and the relationships among them."  Taking architecture from
> SOAP and WSDL, like the processing model of soap 1.2, the transport binding
> framework, the message exchange patterns, etc. all fit in the glossary
> definition of architecture.

No they don't.  Have you read the book[1] where that definition came
from?  It's quite clear.  I forget their exact definition, but they
provide basically the same one that most other experts use; that a
component is a software artifact, encapsulating processing
functionality and/or state.  MEPs, processing models, binding
frameworks, etc.. are not components, connectors, or data elements.
They are not architectural elements at all, at the system level,
though they all play a role in the architecture.  For example, the
SOAP 1.2 processing model forms an important part in the connectors.

Heck, just check out the rest of their definition here (the first
one);

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/definitions.html

> I don't think you want to be casting stones about being out of touch with
> industry on architecture definitions or any other topic, it's unreasonable
> and can easily backfire.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, and I apologize if it comes across
that way, but what can I say?  You're not using standard terms.  If the
group decides this is what they want, then we need to fix our glossary
(as a start).  But I'd hope that we prefer to use the same terms as
others do in the field of software architecture.

 [1] http://www.awl.com/cseng/titles/0-201-19930-0/

MB
-- 
Mark Baker, CTO, Idokorro Mobile (formerly Planetfred)
Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.               distobj@acm.org
http://www.markbaker.ca        http://www.idokorro.com

Received on Thursday, 25 July 2002 01:36:47 UTC