Architecture-Centric Component-Based Development Needs a Three-Level ADL

Architecture-centric, component-based development intensively reuses components from repositories. Such development processes produce architecture definitions, using architecture description languages (Adls). This paper proposes a three step process. Architecture specifications first capture abstract and ideal architectures imagined by architects to meet requirements. Specifications do not describe complete component types but only component roles (usages). Architecture configurations then capture implementation decisions, as the architects select specific component classes from the repository to implement component roles. Finally, architecture assemblies define how components instances are created and initialized to customize the deployment of architectures in their own execution contexts. This development process is supported by a three-level Adl which enables the separate definition of these three representations. The refinement relationships between these architecture representations are also discussed.