Courses - Software Architecture

Courses | Software Architecture | Software Patterns

 

Objective and Content

Software architecture is concerned with the top-level design of the structure and behaviour of a software system. Software architecture is increasingly important to manage the complexity of system design, implementation and evolution. Consequently, it received increasing amounts of attention in the software engineering research community during the last decade. Several reasons can be identified, including the influence of the software architecture on achieving quality attributes, the ability to assess the added value of a system and the soundness of its design very early in the product creation process, the role the software architecture plays in the context of software product lines, improved project organization and planning, and improved stakeholder communication.

The course consists of a theoretical and a practical part. During the theoretical part, the main aspects of software architecting will be discussed, including the software architecting process, description of software architectures, architecture evaluation, architecture design, architectural patterns. In addition, the students write an essay about a software architecting subject of their own choice.

The practical part consists of the design of the architecture of a non-trivial system in groups. This activity will be supported by an intensive coaching, consisting of several reviews and student presentations.

After the course, the student will have an overview about the most important aspects of software architecting and some hands-on experience in applying these concepts in practice.

Format: Plenary lectures, a practical assignment and an essay about a specialized item.

 Literature: The mandatory and optional literature is described in a literature list. For the essay, there is an article compendium on Nestor, containing research articles.

 Assessment: The grading of the course is based on the results of practical assignment and the essay.

 Credits: 5 EC

 Semester: 4.1

Course on-line: in Nestor

Course in University Catalogue: in Ocasys

 

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