Building J2EE™ Applications with the Rational Unified Process

Appendix A. Describing a Software Architecture

Introduction

Although we all often use the term “architecture,” and we certainly use it in the book, there is no commonly accepted agreement on what architecture is and how it is described. As a result, if we ask to see the architecture of a system, we are usually given a set of diagrams and possibly documents that describe some, usually structural, aspects of that system. The purpose of this appendix is to explain what we mean when we say “architecture” and how we recommend describing it.

What Is Architecture?

To define architecture, it is easier to start from its role, rather than to look at it as a set of artifacts. The following definition was derived from Mary Shaw and David Garlan (Shaw and Garlan ...