Software Architecture: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline

Mary Shaw, and David Garlan

Prentice Hall, 1996.

Online links: Prentice Hall Ordering Information

Abstract
This book examine architectures for software systems as well as better ways to support software development. We attempt to bring together the useful abstractions of systems design and the notations and tools of the software developer, and look at patterns used for system organization.

We present an introductino to the field of software architecture. Our purpose is to illustrate the discipling and examine the ways in which architectural design can impact software design. Our selection emphasizes informal descriptions, touching lightly on formal notations and specifications and on tools to support them.

The book serves two groups: First, professional software developers looking for new patterns for system organization. By identifying useful patterns clearly, giving examples, comparing them, and evaluating their utility in various settings, the book will sharpen their understanding and broaden their options. Second, students with interersts in software system organization.

Education in Software Architecture

This book can be used for a course, Architectures for Software Systems, that brings together the emerging models for software archtitectures and shows how to approach systems from an architectural point of view.
  • Teaches how to understand and evaluate the design of existing software systems from an architectural persperctive,
  • Provides the intellectual building blocks for designing new systems in principled ways using well-understood architectural paradigms,
  • Shows how formal notations and models can be used to characterize and reason about a system design,
  • Presents concrete examples of actual system architectures that can serve as models for new designs
Keywords


For further information, please visit the home pages of the ABLE research project and Carnegie Mellon University's Composable Systems Group.

Last modified: 7/17/2003. For comments and problems, contact able-help@cs.cmu.edu.