Readings
 System Architecture & Design

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2008-08-28 -17:25 -0700

see also:
Readings in Software Tools
Readings in Information Processing
Readings in Software Engineering
 Readings in Programming Systems and Languages
Readings in Functional Programming Systems (Miser Project)

I confess that I do not know where to draw the line between Requirements, System Analysis, System Architecture, Software Engineering, Development, and Quality Assurance.  I have interests in each and I call myself a system architect.  For now, I see System Architecture as including concerns for requirements identification and system formulation through verification of requirements satisfaction.  System architecture includes architecture of system delivery as well as architecture of sustaining operation.  This is a broad view, and essential to achievement of coherence and conceptual integrity -- system architecture done on purpose.  I will settle for that now, and factor off parts that seem to be too far below or above the architectural abstraction as it becomes useful to do so.  
     I will stop short of internal architecture, the kind that compartments functions underneath the covers of configurable units.  (It is unclear to me why functions are supposed to live in boxes and I have little patience for it.)
     The ceiling on system architecture is far enough into the world of users to include the confirmable articulation of those key values that set the context for the system.  Meanwhile, as my associate Bill Anderson is prone to say, "It is turtles all the way down."

-- Dennis E. Hamilton
Seattle, Washington
2002 June 8
updated: 2002 June 10
[Agarwal2000]
Agarwal, Ritu., De, Prabuddha., Sinha, Atish P., Tanniru, Mohan.  On the Usability of OO Representations.  Comm. ACM 43, 10 (October 2000), 83-89.
     Expands on the notion of usability of a formal representation, and uses a view of model construction and model interpretation as tasks for which usability is a concern.  While the focus is on the usability of Object-Oriented representations, I find the relationship to formal modeling of interest in my work on Miser as well as in consideration of Model Driven Architecture.  [dh: 2000-10-12; 2002-06-10]
   
[Boehm1996]
Boehm, Barry.  Foreword to Shaw, Mary., Garlan, David. Software Architecture: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline. Prentice-Hall (Upper Saddle River, NJ: 1996). ISBN 0-13-182957-2.  [See Shaw1996]
   
[Brooks1995]
Brooks, Frederick P., Jr.  The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering.  Anniversary edition.  Addison Wesley Longman (Boston: 1975, 1995).  ISBN 0-201-83595-9 pbk. Full citation under Software Engineering
   
[Dargan1994]
Denning, Peter J., Dargan, Pamela A.  A Discipline of Software Architecture.  ACM Interactions 1, 1 (January 1994), 55-65.  See [Denning1994]
    
[De2000]
Agarwal, Ritu., De, Prabuddha., Sinha, Atish P., Tanniru, Mohan.  On the Usability of OO Representations.  Comm. ACM 43, 10 (October 2000), 83-89.  See [Agarwal2000]
  
[Denning1994]
Denning, Peter J., Dargan, Pamela A.  A Discipline of Software Architecture.  ACM Interactions 1, 1 (January 1994), 55-65.  Available as a PDF file at .
     Well, that's it.  I am simply going to have to download everything PJD has ever written.  There is material here that ties in perfectly with what I and my associate, Bill Anderson, have been struggling with in terms of putting people into behavioral diagrams (which always end up being functional and process-oriented but without an identification of coherence with human activity). -- dh:2003-12-14.
   
[Frankel2003]
Frankel, David S.  Model Driven Architecture: Applying MDA to Enterprise Computing.  OMG Press.  Wiley (Indianapolis: 2003).  ISBN 0-471-31920-1.
   Content
     Preface
     Foreword (Michael Guttman)
     Part One.  Introducing MDA
          1. Pressure and progress: How we arrived at this point
          2. Model driven enterprise computing
     Part Two.  The Base MDA Technologies
          3. The role of UML in MDA
          4. Beyond basic class modeling
          5. The Meta Object Facility (MOF)
          6. Extending and creating modeling languages
          7. Building compilable class models
          8. Modeling at different abstraction levels
     Part Three.  Advanced Topics
          9. Modeling transformations with CWM
          10. Additional advanced topics
     Epilogue.  A Reality Check
     Appendix A.  Sample Transactional Metamodel
     Appendix B.  Options Trading Concepts
     References
     Glossary
     Index
     MDA Metalevels (facing inside back cover)
   
[Garlan1996]
Shaw, Mary., Garlan, David. Software Architecture: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline. Prentice-Hall (Upper Saddle River, NJ: 1996). ISBN 0-13-182957-2.  See [Shaw1996].
 
[Robertson1999]
Robertson, Suzanne., Robertson, James.  Mastering the Requirements Process. ACM Press.  Addison Wesley.  Pearson Education Limited (Harlow, England: 1999).  ISBN 0-201-36046-2.  Foreword by Gerald Weinberg.
     2002-06-08: I have been struggling over what I call the requirements gap:  Requirements in many settings seem to start too far into the workings of the computing system and not far enough out into the world.  I am looking for something that makes sense to the intended users of the system, that they can confirm expresses their requirements, and that they can verify the satisfaction of.   My associates and I have been looking for a way to make a difference in recognition of the gap and identification of approaches that can cross it.
     This may be a large chunk of what we are looking for.  The Robertsons use behavioral ("data flow") diagrams almost everywhere.  They have a model, the Volere Requirements Process (from the Italian verb, "to want"), that might meld with Gilb's work to make measurable.  The diagramming has nice iconic qualities that aid comprehension in ordinary conversations and discussions.  Requirements gathering is seen as a predecessor to systems analysis, which seems particularly valuable.  And finally, the recognition of functional and non-functional requirements is indispensable.  These are all possible support for having requirements lead to designed experiences and processes that arise in the world of users.
     I don't know how much this work helps, just yet.  I find encouragement in the perspective of the Robertsons' Atlantic Systems Guild.
   Content
     Acknowledgments
     Foreword
     1. What Are Requirements?
     2. The Requirements Process
     3. Project Blastoff
     4. Event-driven Use Cases
     5. Trawling for Requirements
     6. Functional Requirements
     7. Non-functional Requirements
     8. Writing the Specification
     9. Fit Criteria
     10. Quality Gateway
     11. Prototyping and Scenarios
     12. Reusing Requirements
     13. Taking Stock of the Specification
     14. Whither Requirements?
     Appendix A. Volere Requirements Process Model
     Appendix B. Volere Requirements Specification Template
     Glossary
     Bibliography
     Index
   
[Shaw1996]
Shaw, Mary., Garlan, David. Software Architecture: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline. Prentice-Hall (Upper Saddle River, NJ: 1996). ISBN 0-13-182957-2.  Foreword by Barry Boehm.
     2000-07-18 (orcmid): I found out about this in a review in Dr. Dobb's, and then found it on a bookshelf. The foreword tells it all. At the same time, I am uneasy with the book. Something for me to work through.
   Content
     Foreword
     Preface
     1. Introduction
     2. Architectural Styles
     3. Case Studies
     4. Shared Information Systems
     5. Architectural Design Guidance
     6. Formal Models and Specifications
     7. Linguistic Issues
     8. Tools for Architectural Design
     9. Education of Software Architects
     Bibliography
     Index
   
[Sinha2000] 
Agarwal, Ritu., De, Prabuddha., Sinha, Atish P., Tanniru, Mohan.  On the Usability of OO Representations.  Comm. ACM 43, 10 (October 2000), 83-89.  See [Agarwal2000]
   
[Tanniru2000]
Agarwal, Ritu., De, Prabuddha., Sinha, Atish P., Tanniru, Mohan.  On the Usability of OO Representations.  Comm. ACM 43, 10 (October 2000), 83-89.  See [Agarwal2000]
   
[Weinberg1999]
Weinberg, Gerald.  Foreword to Robertson, Suzanne., Robertson, James.  Mastering the Requirements Process. ACM Press.  Addison Wesley.  Pearson Education Limited (Harlow, England: 1999).  ISBN 0-201-36046-2.  See [Robertson1999]
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