A language and environment for architecture-based software development and evolution

Abstract

Software architectures have the potential to substantially improve the development and evolution of large, complex, multi-lingual, multi-platform, long-running systems. However, in order to achieve this potential, specific techniques for architecture-based modeling, analysis, and evolution must be provided. Furthermore, one cannot fully benefit from such techniques unless support for mapping an architecture to an implementation also exists. This paper motivates and presents one such approach, which is an outgrowth of our experience with systems developed and evolved according to the C2 architectural style. We describe an architecture description language (ADL) specifically designed to support architecturebased evolution and discuss the kinds of evolution the language supports. We then describe a component-based environment that enables modeling, analysis, and evolution of architectures expressed in the ADL, as well as mapping of architectural models to an implementation infrastructure. The architecture of the environment itself can be evolved easily to support multiple ADLs, kinds of analyses, architectural styles, and implementation platforms. Our approach is fully reflexive: the environment can be used to describe, analyze, evolve, and (partially) implement itself, using the very ADL it supports. An existing architecture is used throughout the paper to provide illustrations and examples.

Non-synchronous Communications in Process Algebraic Architectural Description Languages

“…We then mention C2SADEL [33]. This is an architectural description language tied to the C2 style, which combines the usual architectural concepts with type theory.…”

Preserving Architectural Properties in Multithreaded Code Generation

“…C2SADEL [12] is an ADL tied to the C2 style, which combines the usual architectural concepts with type theory. Type checking is used to analyze the architectural descriptions for consistency by unifying corresponding operations required and provided by different components.…”

Predictable Dynamic Plugin Systems

“…Several ADLs have been extended or complemented with languages for describing behaviour, for example C2SADEL [11] which uses logic to specify behaviour, or Wright [6] and PADL [3] which use process algebra.…”