Software Architecture

The software architecture of a program or computing system is the structure or structures of the system, which comprise software elements, the externally visible properties of those elements, and the relationships among them. Architecture is concerned with the public side of interfaces; private details of elements—details having to do solely with internal implementation—are not architectural. _{-- Software Architecture in Practice (2nd edition), Bass, Clements, and Kazman}

The software architecture shows the overall organization of the system and can be viewed as a very high-level design. It usually consists of a set of interacting components that fit together to achieve the required functionality. It should be a simple and technically viable structure that is well-understood and agreed-upon by everyone in the development team, and it forms the basis for the implementation.

A possible architecture for a Minesweeper game

Main components:

• GUI: Graphical user interface
• TextUi: Textual user interface
• ATD: An automated test driver used for testing the game logic
• Logic: computation and logic of the game
• Store: storage and retrieval of game data (high scores etc.)

The architecture is typically designed by the software architect, who provides the technical vision of the system and makes high-level (i.e. architecture-level) technical decisions about the project.

Architecture diagrams are free-form diagrams. There is no universally adopted standard notation for architecture diagrams. Any symbol that reasonably describes the architecture may be used.

While architecture diagrams have no standard notation, try to follow these basic guidelines when drawing them.

• Minimize the variety of symbols. If the symbols you choose do not have widely-understood meanings e.g. A drum symbol is widely-understood as representing a database, explain their meaning.

• Avoid the indiscriminate use of double-headed arrows to show interactions between components.

Consider the two architecture diagrams of the same software given below. Because Diagram 2 uses double headed arrows, the important fact that GUI has a bi-directional dependency with the Logic component is no longer captured.

Software architectures follow various high-level styles (aka architectural patterns), just like building architectures follow various architecture styles.

In the n-tier style, higher layers make use of services provided by lower layers. Lower layers are independent of higher layers. Other names: multi-layered, layered.

The client-server style has at least one component playing the role of a server and at least one client component accessing the services of the server. This is an architectural style used often in distributed applications.

The online game and the Web application below uses the client-server style.

Event-driven style controls the flow of the application by detecting events from event emitters and communicating those events to interested event consumers . This architectural style is often used in GUIs.

When the ‘button clicked’ event occurs in a GUI, that event can be transmitted to components that are interested in reacting to that event. Similarly, events detected at a Printer port can be transmitted to components related to operating the Printer. The same event can be sent to multiple consumers too.

Most applications use a mix of these architectural styles.