Toward user-defined element types and architectural styles

When consider& the design of an architectu&description language (ADL) to be used as part of a software dqeloper’s daily practice, two goals merit attention. First, the language should support the easy definition of new element types and architectural styles. Second, it should-play a central role in system -construct&. A Vproposed ADL, called UniCon-2, addresses these goals-with its flexible type system, its duty construct, and its extensible compiler architecture based on OLE. Such an ADL provides a good starting point for exploring the architectural description of families of systems and flexible componentry. ‘! ‘ . Introdu&ion I ‘/ -, . A number of researc hers + the’field of softw&architec&z. are centering their work on new notations, called architectural description language (ADLS). When ‘considering the eventual adoption of ADIS into standard software develop ment prac@e, two language features seem worthy.goals. First, the .ADL should support the definition of new types of components, new types of connectors, and new architectural styles. Second, the ADL should play a central role iq system construction. Designing an ADL that-meets both these goals is the focus of this paper. The world is populated with a diversity ,of software architectures both across and within software systems. This diversity is not a historical accident or a: ptictice to be denigrated: certain architectural styles, e I .tiply better suited than others to solve certain problems 131. As long as there is a variety of problems to solve, there will be a variety of architectural styles. To support this diver+@ an ADL should allow architects to *define their own architectural styles, along with the new types of compnents and connectors that are a part of that sty++ Moreover, the definition of new types and styles should not require exotic skills. The more ordinary the‘ skill set requinzd to define a new type or style, the more the average architect can participate. The second-goal is for the ADL to play a‘ central role in hmksion to make digital/hard copies of all or part of this material‘&, pemhal or chwoom UBC is granted without fee provided that the copies ’ 8-m not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage,‘the copyn.ght notice, the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is, ’ Pven that copyright ie by permission of the ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires s&ifiFpenniasion and/or fee. SIGSOFT 96 Workshop, San Francisco CA USA 8 1996 ACM 0-89791-867-3/96!10 ..$3.50 -i 1,. _