Chaining: A Software Architecture Dependence Analysis Technique

The emergence of formal architecture description languages provides an opportunity to perform analyses at high levels of abstraction. Research has primarily focused on developing techniques such as algebraic and transition-system analysis to detect component mismatches or global behavioral incorrectness. In this paper, we describe chaining, a technique similar in concept and application to program slicing, in which the goal is to reduce the portions of an architecture that must be examined by an architect for some purpose, such as testing or debugging. In chaining, links represent the dependence relationships that exist in an architectural speciication. Links connect elements of the speciication that are directly related, producing a chain of dependencies that can be followed during analysis. We illustrate the utility of chaining by showing how the technique can be used to answer various questions one might pose of a Rapide architecture speciication.