Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
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60 Chapter4. Evaluation<br />
StartingpointItsdocumentationcanbeusedbynewprojectsasastartingpointforOcé’siterativedevelopmentprocess.Thisgreatlyreducestheeffortrequiredfordesigninganenginearchitecturefora<br />
newproduct.<br />
ReuseItdescribesthegenericstructure<strong>and</strong>behaviour<strong>of</strong>theengines<strong>of</strong>twarecomponents.Thismakesintegratingexistings<strong>of</strong>twarecomponentsthatarecomplianttothereferencearchitectureeasier,<strong>and</strong>thus<br />
increasesthereusepotential<strong>of</strong>thosecomponents. Thisnotonlyincludesbinarycomponents,butalsodesigns,requirements<strong>and</strong>other<br />
s<strong>of</strong>twareartefacts.<br />
Infactthethreepointsaboveareallrelatedtoreuse(i.e.,<strong>of</strong>knowledge,documentation,<strong>and</strong>others<strong>of</strong>twareproducts).Therefore,thereferencearchitectureshouldmakeitpossibletoeventuallyspeedupthedevelopment<br />
(fastprototyping)<strong>and</strong>maintenance<strong>of</strong>productssignificantly.<br />
4.2.2 ReferenceArchitecture<br />
Thereferencearchitecturedefinesthefundamentalelements,relationsbetweentheseelements,<strong>and</strong>properties<strong>of</strong>other,product-specificelements<strong>of</strong><br />
Océ’scopierengines<strong>of</strong>tware.Itisusedtoderiveas<strong>of</strong>twarearchitecturefor<br />
enginesincorporatedinaspecificseries<strong>of</strong>Océprinters.Fromthiss<strong>of</strong>tware<br />
architecture,individualenginescanbeconfiguredtobeintegratedinOcé’s<br />
products.Inthiswaythereferencearchitecturedefinesafamily<strong>of</strong>copier<br />
engines.<br />
Deelstraetal.[2005]giveaclassification<strong>of</strong>productfamilieswithrespecttolevel<strong>of</strong>reuse.Weusethisclassification<strong>and</strong>theaccompanyingterminologytopositionthereferencearchitecture.<br />
Four(ordered)levelsare<br />
identified: 1)st<strong>and</strong>ardisedinfrastructure,2)platform,3)s<strong>of</strong>twareproductline,<strong>and</strong>4)configurableproductfamily.<br />
Theselevelsdenotetowhich<br />
extentthecommonalitiesbetweenrelatedproductsintheproductfamily<br />
areexploited.Océ’sreferencearchitecturecanbepositionedasaplatform,<br />
sinceitprovidesreusablecomponentsthataredevelopedbyaseparate<br />
reusegroup(seeSection4.2.4). Furthermore,itdefinesast<strong>and</strong>ardised<br />
infrastructurebyprescribinghowcomponentsshouldinteract<strong>and</strong>what<br />
functionalcomponentsshouldlooklike. Additionally,it<strong>of</strong>fersaplatform<br />
thatrealisescommonfunctionality,suchaserrorh<strong>and</strong>ling<strong>and</strong>scheduling.<br />
Asallbusinessdrivers<strong>of</strong>thereferencearchitecturearerelatedtoreuse,<br />
Océisparticularlyinterestedininvestigatingwhetheritispossible<strong>and</strong><br />
worthwhiletoraisethecurrentreuselevel<strong>of</strong>thereferencearchitectureto<br />
that<strong>of</strong>aproductline.However,inordertoqualifyasaproduct-linearchitecture,itmustdefinethefunctionalvariabilitybetweendifferentengines.
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