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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62 Chapter4. Evaluation<br />
p1 p2 p3 p4 Reference architecture evolution<br />
Product development Figure 4.2:Thereferencearchitecture<strong>and</strong>derivedprojects.<br />
chitects. Thisensuresthatthereferencearchitectureismorethanapile<br />
<strong>of</strong>documents. Thesemeetingsareveryimportantastheyprovideacommunicationplatformwhichisessentialformeetingtheinitialobjectives<br />
(Section4.2.1).<br />
Inagreementwiththeseobjectives,thereisalogicallinkbetweenthe<br />
referencearchitecturegroup<strong>and</strong>thegroupthatdevelopsreusables<strong>of</strong>tware<br />
componentsfortheengines<strong>of</strong>tware. Inthecurrentsituation, onlythe<br />
reusablecomponentsrefertothereferencearchitecture’sdocumentation,<br />
whichmeansthatthisdocumentationitselfdoesnotshowwhatcomponentscanbeusedtoimplementthedifferentelements<strong>of</strong>thearchitecture.<br />
Theactualusage<strong>of</strong>thereferencearchitectureleadstorefinements<strong>and</strong><br />
additions. Figure4.2depictsthisinterplaybetweenusage<strong>and</strong>evolution.<br />
Thehorizontallinerepresentstheevolution<strong>of</strong>thereferencearchitecture.<br />
Each pirepresentsaprojectinwhichanengineisdevelopedforaseries<strong>of</strong><br />
Océcopiers. Aprojectcan‘join’thereferencearchitectureforsometime,<br />
contributetoitsdevelopment,<strong>and</strong>benefitfrommodificationsmadetoit.<br />
Thisisindicatedbytheobliquelinesforprojects p1, p2,<strong>and</strong> p4. Aftera<br />
while,suchprojectsmaydecideto‘leave’thereferencearchitecture,<strong>and</strong><br />
continueontheirownusingafixedversion(thelinesbecomevertical).<br />
Otherprojects(p3)maydecidetouseafixedversionrightfromthestart,<br />
extractingjustwhateverisnecessaryfromthatversion<strong>of</strong>thereference<br />
architecture.<br />
Thereferencearchitecturecameintoexistencebasedonthedocumentation<strong>and</strong>experience<strong>of</strong>severalpreviousprojects.Infact,itwasdeveloped<br />
largelyinparallelwithonespecificproject. Assuchitcancurrentlybe<br />
understoodasthecommondenominator<strong>of</strong>severalproductspecificarchitectures.<br />
Assaidusingthereferencearchitectureisvoluntary<strong>and</strong>itisnotyet<br />
knowntoallpotentialstakeholders. Thereforewecansaythatitiscur-
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