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Rethinking the Use of Models in Software Architecture

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Quality of Software Architectures. Models and Architectures (QoSA 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 5281))

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Abstract

Models play a central role in software engineering. They may be used to reason about requirements, to identify possible missing parts or conflicts. They may be used at design time to analyze the effects and trade-offs of different architectural choices before starting an implementation, anticipating the discovery of possible defects that might be uncovered at later stages, when they might be difficult or very expensive to remove. They may also be used at run time to support continuous monitoring of compliance of the running system with respect to the desired model. This paper focuses on models that support reasoning about non-functional system properties — namely, performance and reliability. It provides a taxonomy, which tries to capture the main facets that are needed to understand, choose, and use models appropriately in the various phases of software development and operation. The paper also focuses on the roundtrip from models to reality and back. The forward path is followed in model-driven development. The backward path is instead meant to enable model calibration, with the goal of building adequate abstractions, which reflect reality and its properties in a faithful manner. Calibration may be required because of flaws in the initial model or in the process that derived the implementation, or because of changes that occurred in the environment or in the requirements. This leads to the idea that models should continue to live at run time, on-line with the running implementation. Calibrated models may drive the necessary dynamic changes that may support self-adaptation of the implemented system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milano, Italy

    Danilo Ardagna, Carlo Ghezzi & Raffaela Mirandola

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  1. Danilo Ardagna
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  2. Carlo Ghezzi
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  3. Raffaela Mirandola
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  1. FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik,, Haid-und-Neu-Straße 10-14, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Steffen Becker

  2. Department of Software Engineering, Charles University, Malostranske nam. 25, 11800, Prague 1, Czech Republic

    Frantisek Plasil

  3. Chair for Software Design and Quality, University of Karlsruhe (TH), Am Fasanengarten 5, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Ralf Reussner

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Ardagna, D., Ghezzi, C., Mirandola, R. (2008). Rethinking the Use of Models in Software Architecture. In: Becker, S., Plasil, F., Reussner, R. (eds) Quality of Software Architectures. Models and Architectures. QoSA 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5281. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-87879-7_1

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