CMU CS 15-675 Architectures for Software Systems Spring 1997

Patterns and Pattern Languages

The papers:

[B+96]: Buschmann, F., Meunier, R., Rohnert, H., Sommerlad, P., and
Stal, M.
Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture: A System of Patterns.
Chapter 1, pp. 1-11, Chapter 2, pp. 25-70,
John Wiley and Sons Ltd., West Sussex, PO19 1 UD, England,1996

[Mul94]: Mularz, D. E. Pattern-Based Integration Architectures.
Edited by Coplien and Schmidt, pp. 441-452, Addison-Wesley, 1995

[Sha96]: Shaw, M. "Some Patterns for Software Architectures"
Pattern Languages of Program Design 2.
Edited by Vlissides, Coplien, and Kerth, pp. 255-270, Addison-Wesley, 1996

Hints:

There is a lot of reading for this assignment. However, this is due to the fact that the readings attempt to impart two different kinds of knowledge. First, they define what patterns for software architecture are and how they can be used to solve software engineering problems. Secondly, they present the details of some well-known architectural patterns for problems that you will mostly-likely encounter as software designers. Here are some suggestions on how to read through the papers:

Start by reading Chapter 1 of the first reading, Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture: A System of Patterns. The authors do an excellent job of defining patterns and they describe eight useful properties of patterns. This will give you a solid intuition about patterns for the remaining readings. Pay particular attention to the definition of a pattern, as well as the properties of patterns.

Next, read "Some Patterns for Software Architectures" by Dr. Shaw. This paper starts by providing more background and motivation for using patterns, and it provides another definition. The rest of the paper describes eight patterns which are used to design the fundamental structure of a software system.

Third, read Chapter 2 of the first reading. This Chapter presents more detailed information on two of the patterns described in Dr. Shaw's article.

Lastly read Pattern-Based Integration Architectures. Pay particular attention to her description of the problem she is addressing, as well as the details of her solution strategy.

Questions:

1. Based on your reading of the first two papers:
   What is a pattern, and what does it describe?
   

   How does the concept of reuse apply to using patterns?
   

   What is the purpose of major architectural abstractions?
   

2. For each of the problem descriptions below, which major architectural pattern would you choose to design the solution, and why? (be brief)
   the application consists of a well-ordered series of independent computations, each of which can be applied incrementally on data, usually in streams
   

   the application consists of many purely computational components that interact on centralized data
   

   the application consists of computations that can appropriately be defined as a hierarchy of procedure definitions
   

3. The reading from Mularz entitled Pattern-based Integration Architectures focuses on a particular problem in engineering large software systems.
   What is an integration pattern?
   

   Define the two types of components found in any integration model.
   

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Modified: 02/26/97