Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Group at PUPR

Software Architecture

Taught in Spring

Master in Computer Science only

Yahoo Group

SoftwareArchitecture_PUPR

Syllabus

In this course you will be covering several topics in Modern Software Architecture design and analysis. Design is covered by the book: Applied Software Architecture by Christine Hofmeister, Robert Nord and Dilip Soni, Addison Wesley. Analysis (working with existing code, integrating purchased Software, repair and maintenance) is a research topic that is not covered in any books. For this purpose we will be reading several papers on various subtopics. A project in analysing open source systems will help you to apply and increase understanding about what you are learning. (Many thanks to Richart Holt from University of Waterloo for helping with setting up the structure of this class).

Grading Scheme

This course has few formal lectures and is mostly run by student participation and preparation for predetermined subjects. During the first week, students are expected to pick subjects of their choice for which they will become expertand present research and progress on project on a weekly basis. There will be regular quizzes in each class to ensure your attention and attendance.

Quizzes (10%)
Student Topic Reviews (Paper and Presentations) (40%)
Reverse Engineering Project of Opensource Code of your Choice (30%)
Midterm (10%)
Final (10%)

Project

Projects can be done in teams of two. Pick an open source system and analyze its architecture. This is done in two ways:

Reverse engineer using tools for analysis. (Together Control Center offers such a tool but there are other academic tools)
Look at the architecture based on the documentation. (Does the documentation match the software??)
Case Studies - Postgres Recommended
(- Hofmeister: Applied Software Architecture, Ch. 8-11)
- Holt: Linux as a Case Study
- Godfrey: Modzilla
- Mockus: Apache and Modzilla

Student Review Topics in Software Architecture

Students will give 45 minute seminars along with reports (5000 words) by choosing from the topics in the schedule. A systematic review is a means of evaluating and interpreting all available research relevant to a particular topic area. Each report is handed in one week before the presentation. For each topic papers listed in the schedule serve only as a starting point. I expect to see a much more extended Bibliography with each paper.

Schedule

Reading Schedule

Each lecture will start with a quiz on last week's topic. I will then give a brief introduction to the topic of this week. This is then followed by student presentations on the subject based on individual research and overview of the topic. Readings listed for each class are to be read beforehand. For the student who is going to review that particular topic, these papers serve as a starting point. For the other students this serves as a basis for discussion. The quiz will cover random content from papers to ensure that you read the papers.

Week	Topic	Homework
Introduction
1	What is Software Architecture Administrivia of this Course	- Garlan: An Introduction to Software Architecture - Garlan: Software Architecture - a Roadmap - Perry: Foundations for the Study of Software Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL RESTAURATION -- Analysis
2	Software Decay Student Proposals for Topics	- Parnas: Software Aging - Baysal: Fining the Core Architecture of an Evolving Software System - Tran: Architectural Repair of Open Source Software - Fahmy: Software Architecture Transformations
3	Reverse Engineering	- Hassan: Architecture Recovery of Web Applications - Storey: Manipulating and Documenting Software Structures - Guo: A Software Architecture Reconstruction Method - Gall: Abstracting Module Views from Source Code - Ball (Bell Labs): Software Visualization in the Large - Katzman: Playing Detective: Reconstructing Architecture from Available Evidence
4	ADL Tools for Analysis Tools for Design	- Shaw: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline, Ch. 2 - Shaw: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline, Ch. 8 - Medvidovic: A Framework for Classifying and Comparing Architecture Description Languages - Academia: Analysis: Reflexon Model - Academia: Analysis: Waterloo - Academia: Analysis: Dali - CMU - Team TTA Waterloo: Reverse Engineering with Reflexon Model - Industry: Together Control Center (analysis and design) - Industry: Analysis: IBM, Siemens, Nokia, Microsoft?
ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION -- Design
5	Architectural Views	- Hofmeister: Applied Software Architecture, Ch.1,4-7 - Shaw: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline, Ch. 2
6	Model Driven Architecture	- Stalder: The basics of Model Driven Architecture
7	Reference Architectures	- Hassan: A Reference Architecture for Web Servers - Kruchten: The "4+1" View Model of Software Architecture - Butler: Patterns for e-business - continued evolution IBM - Monroe: Stylized Architecture, Design Patterns and Objects - Ziemer: An Architecture for Web Applications
8	COTS and Reuse Product Line Architecture	- Big Ball of Mud - Garlan: Why it's hard to build systems out of existing parts - Tirgaux, Heymans: Software Product Lines: State of the Art - Product Line Links
9	Connectors	- Allen: A Formal Basis for Architectural Connection - Barton: A Technique to Identify Component Interfaces
10	Case Studies I	Project Reports
11	Case Studies II	Project Reports
12	Software Architecture and how it fits into the Software Engineering Process	- Fowler: Who Needs an Architect - Uttangi: Social Dimensions of Architecting Software Systems - Howing: Impact of Software Architecture on the Development Process - Potgar: Open and Closed Source Software Development Methodology - Hofmeister: Applied Software Architecture, Ch. 12