Higher Technological

Institute

Software Engineering -2

Dr. Sarah Ahmed

Lecture 4

1
 Chapter 6 – Architectural Design

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Topics covered

 Introduction
 Architectural design decisions
 Architectural views
 Architectural patterns
 Application architectures

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 Architectural patterns

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Architectural patterns

 Patterns are a means of representing, sharing and

reusing knowledge.
 An architectural pattern is a stylized description of good
design practice, which has been tried and tested in
different environments.
 Patterns should include information about when they are
and when they are not useful.
 Patterns may be represented using tabular and graphical
descriptions.

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The Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern

Name MVC (Model-View-Controller)

Description Separates presentation and interaction from the system data. The system is
structured into three logical components that interact with each other. The
Model component manages the system data and associated operations on
that data. The View component defines and manages how the data is
presented to the user. The Controller component manages user interaction
(e.g., key presses, mouse clicks, etc.) and passes these interactions to the
View and the Model. See Figure 6.3.
Example Figure 6.4 shows the architecture of a web-based application system
organized using the MVC pattern.
When used Used when there are multiple ways to view and interact with data. Also used
when the future requirements for interaction and presentation of data are
unknown.
Advantages Allows the data to change independently of its representation and vice versa.
Supports presentation of the same data in different ways with changes made
in one representation shown in all of them.
Disadvantages Can involve additional code and code complexity when the data model and
interactions are simple.

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The organization of the Model-View-Controller

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Web application architecture using the MVC
pattern

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Layered architecture

 Used to model the interfacing of sub-systems.

 Organises the system into a set of layers each of which
provide a set of services.
 Supports the incremental development of sub-systems in
different layers. When a layer interface changes, only the
adjacent layer is affected.

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The Layered architecture pattern

Name Layered architecture

Description Organizes the system into layers with related functionality

associated with each layer. A layer provides services to the layer
above it so the lowest-level layers represent core services that
are likely to be used throughout the system. See Figure 6.6.
Example A layered model of a system for sharing copyright documents
held in different libraries, as shown in Figure 6.7.
When used Used when building new facilities on top of existing systems;
when the development is spread across several teams with each
team responsibility for a layer of functionality; when there is a
requirement for multi-level security.
Advantages Allows replacement of entire layers so long as the interface is
maintained. Redundant facilities (e.g., authentication) can be
provided in each layer to increase the dependability of the
system.
Disadvantages In practice, providing a clean separation between layers is often
difficult and a high-level layer may have to interact directly with
lower-level layers rather than through the layer immediately
below it. Performance can be a problem because of multiple
levels of interpretation of a service request as it is processed at
each layer.

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A generic layered architecture

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The architecture of the iLearn system

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Repository architecture

 Sub-systems must exchange data. This may be done in

two ways:
 Shared data is held in a central database or repository and may
be accessed by all sub-systems;
 Each sub-system maintains its own database and passes data
explicitly to other sub-systems.
 When large amounts of data are to be shared, the
repository model of sharing is most commonly used and
this is an efficient data sharing mechanism.

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The Repository pattern

Name Repository

Description All data in a system is managed in a central repository that is

accessible to all system components. Components do not
interact directly, only through the repository.
Example Figure 6.9 is an example of an IDE where the components use
a repository of system design information. Each software tool
generates information which is then available for use by other
tools.
When used You should use this pattern when you have a system in which
large volumes of information are generated that has to be
stored for a long time.

Advantages Components can be independent—they do not need to know

of the existence of other components. Changes made by one
component can be propagated to all components. All data can
be managed consistently (e.g., backups done at the same
time) as it is all in one place.
Disadvantages The repository is a single point of failure so problems in the
repository affect the whole system. May be inefficiencies in
organizing all communication through the repository.
Distributing the repository across several computers may be
difficult.

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A repository architecture for an IDE

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Client-server architecture

 Distributed system model which shows how data and

processing is distributed across a range of components.
 Can be implemented on a single computer.
 Set of stand-alone servers which provide specific
services such as printing, data management, etc.
 Set of clients which call on these services.
 Network which allows clients to access servers.

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The Client–server pattern

Name Client-server

Description In a client–server architecture, the functionality of the system is

organized into services, with each service delivered from a
separate server. Clients are users of these services and access
servers to make use of them.
Example Figure 6.11 is an example of a film and video/DVD library organized
as a client–server system.
When used Used when data in a shared database has to be accessed from a
range of locations. Because servers can be replicated, may also be
used when the load on a system is variable.
Advantages The principal advantage of this model is that servers can be
distributed across a network. General functionality (e.g., a printing
service) can be available to all clients and does not need to be
implemented by all services.
Disadvantages Each service is a single point of failure. Performance may be
unpredictable because it depends on the network as well as the
system. May be management problems if servers are owned by
different organizations.

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A client–server architecture for a film library

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 Application architectures

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Application architectures

 Application systems are designed to meet a business

and organizational need.
 As businesses have much in common, their application
systems also tend to have a common architecture that
reflects the application requirements.
 A generic application architecture is an architecture for a
type of software system that may be configured and
adapted to create a system that meets specific
requirements.

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Use of application architectures

 As a starting point for architectural design.

 As a design checklist.
 You can check that your design is consistent with the generic
architecture
 As a way of organizing the work of the development
team.
 You can assign work to group members to implement different
components within the architecture.
 As a means of assessing components for reuse.

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Examples of application types

 Data processing applications

 Data driven applications that process data in batches without
explicit user intervention during the processing.
 Transaction processing applications
 Data-centred applications that process user requests and update
information in a system database.
 Event processing systems
 Applications where system actions depend on interpreting
events from the system’s environment.
 Language processing systems
 Applications where the users’ intentions are specified in a formal
language that is processed and interpreted by the system.
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Application type examples

 Two very widely used generic application architectures are

transaction processing systems and language processing
systems.
 Transaction processing systems
 E-commerce systems;
 Reservation systems.
 Language processing systems
 Compilers;
 Command interpreters.

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Transaction processing systems

 Process user requests for information from a database

or requests to update the database.
 From a user perspective a transaction is:
 Any coherent sequence of operations that satisfies a goal;
 For example - find the times of flights from London to Paris.
 Users make asynchronous requests for service which
are then processed by a transaction manager.

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The structure of transaction processing
applications

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The software architecture of an ATM system

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Information systems architecture

 Information systems have a generic architecture that can

be organized as a layered architecture.
 These are transaction-based systems as interaction with
these systems generally involves database transactions.
 Layers include:
 The user interface
 User communications
 Information retrieval
 System database

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Layered information system architecture

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 Thank You

Chapter 1 Introduction 30/10/2014 29