Heterogeneous Design Idioms for Software Architecture

Author: Mary Shaw

Proc. Sixth International Workshop on Software Specification and Design, IEEE, October 1991.

Abstract

Software designers use a variety of structural patterns to specify system architectures. These patterns, or idioms, are currently used informally and imprecisely. Nevertheless, they provide a useful, broadly shared vocabulary. In practice, a given design often relies on several patterns. This paper reviews some common architectural idioms, shows several ways in which they are used heterogeneously, and discusses the benefits of making these idioms and their combinations more explicit and precise.

Brought to you by the Composable Software Systems Research Group in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

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