Design Process
Module III
Design Guidelines.
• The design must implement all of the explicit requirements contained in the requirements model, and it
must accommodate all of the implicit requirements desired by stakeholders.
• The design must be a readable, understandable guide for those who generate code and for those who
test and subsequently support the software.
• The design should provide a complete picture of the software, addressing the data, functional, and
behavioral domains from an implementation perspective.
Quality Guidelines.
1. A design should exhibit an architecture that
(1) has been created using recognizable architectural styles or patterns,
(2) is composed of components that exhibit good design characteristics
(3) can be implemented in an evolutionary fashion,2 thereby facilitating implementation and
testing.
2. A design should be modular; that is, the software should be logically partitioned into elements
or subsystems.
3. A design should contain distinct representations of data, architecture, interfaces, and
components.
Quality Guidelines.
4. A design should lead to data structures that are appropriate for the classes to be implemented and are
drawn from recognizable data patterns.
5. A design should lead to components that exhibit independent functional characteristics.
6. A design should lead to interfaces that reduce the complexity of connections between components and
with the external environment.
7. A design should be derived using a repeatable method that is driven by information obtained during
software requirements analysis.
8. A design should be represented using a notation that effectively communicates its meaning.
Quality Attributes.
• Functionality
• Usability
• Reliability
• Performance
• Supportability and maintainability
Design concepts
1. Abstraction
Procedural -a sequence of instructions that have a specific and limited function. Example “Open” for a
door. Open implies a long sequence of procedural steps (e.g., walk to the door, reach out and grasp knob, turn
knob and pull door, step away from moving door, etc.)
Data - a named collection of data that describes a data object Example: the data abstraction for door would
encompass a set of attributes that describe the door (e.g., door type, swing direction, opening mechanism, weight,
dimensions).
Architectural design
Architecture- the overall structure of the software and the ways in which that structure provides conceptual
integrity for a system.
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Architectural design decisions
• Architectural design is a creative process so the process differs depending on
the type of system being developed.
• However, a number of common decisions span all design processes and
these decisions affect the non-functional characteristics of the system.
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Architectural design decisions
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Architecture reuse
• Systems in the same domain often have similar architectures that reflect
domain concepts.
• Application product lines are built around a core architecture with variants
that satisfy particular customer requirements.
• The architecture of a system may be designed around one of more
architectural patterns or ‘styles’.
• These capture the essence of an architecture and can be instantiated in different ways.
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Architecture and system characteristics
• Performance
• Localize critical operations and minimize communications. Use large rather than fine-grain components.
• Security
• Use a layered architecture with critical assets in the inner layers.
• Safety
• Localise safety-critical features in a small number of sub-systems.
• Availability
• Include redundant components and mechanisms for fault tolerance.
• Maintainability
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Architectural views
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Architectural views
• What views or perspectives are useful when designing and documenting a
system’s architecture?
• What notations should be used for describing architectural models?
• Each architectural model only shows one view or perspective of the system.
• It might show how a system is decomposed into modules, how the run-time processes
interact or the different ways in which system components are distributed across a
network. For both design and documentation, you usually need to present multiple
views of the software architecture.
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Architectural views
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4 + 1 view model of software architecture
• A logical view, which shows the key abstractions in the system as objects or object
classes.
• A process view, which shows how, at run-time, the system is composed of
interacting processes.
• A development view, which shows how the software is decomposed for
development.
• A physical view, which shows the system hardware and how software components
are distributed across the processors in the system.
• Related using use cases or scenarios (+1)
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Representing architectural views
• Some people argue that the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is an
appropriate notation for describing and documenting system architectures
• I disagree with this as I do not think that the UML includes abstractions
appropriate for high-level system description.
• Architectural description languages (ADLs) have been developed but are not
widely used
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Architectural patterns
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Architectural patterns
• Patterns are a means of representing, sharing and reusing knowledge.
• An architectural pattern is a stylized description of good design practice,
which has been tried and tested in different environments.
• Patterns should include information about when they are and when the are
not useful.
• Patterns may be represented using tabular and graphical descriptions.
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The Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern
Name MVC (Model-View-Controller)
Description Separates presentation and interaction from the system data. The system is
structured into three logical components that interact with each other. The
Model component manages the system data and associated operations on
that data. The View component defines and manages how the data is
presented to the user. The Controller component manages user interaction
(e.g., key presses, mouse clicks, etc.) and passes these interactions to the
View and the Model. See Figure 6.3.
Example Figure 6.4 shows the architecture of a web-based application system
organized using the MVC pattern.
When used Used when there are multiple ways to view and interact with data. Also used
when the future requirements for interaction and presentation of data are
unknown.
Advantages Allows the data to change independently of its representation and vice versa.
Supports presentation of the same data in different ways with changes made
in one representation shown in all of them.
Disadvantages Can involve additional code and code complexity when the data model and
interactions are simple.
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The organization of the Model-View-
Controller
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Web application architecture using the MVC
pattern
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Layered architecture
• Used to model the interfacing of sub-systems.
• Organises the system into a set of layers (or abstract machines) each of
which provide a set of services.
• Supports the incremental development of sub-systems in different layers.
When a layer interface changes, only the adjacent layer is affected.
• However, often artificial to structure systems in this way.
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The Layered architecture pattern
Name Layered architecture
Description Organizes the system into layers with related functionality associated with
each layer. A layer provides services to the layer above it so the lowest-level
layers represent core services that are likely to be used throughout the
system. See Figure 6.6.
Example A layered model of a system for sharing copyright documents held in different
libraries, as shown in Figure 6.7.
When used Used when building new facilities on top of existing systems; when the
development is spread across several teams with each team responsibility for
a layer of functionality; when there is a requirement for multi-level security.
Advantages Allows replacement of entire layers so long as the interface is maintained.
Redundant facilities (e.g., authentication) can be provided in each layer to
increase the dependability of the system.
Disadvantages In practice, providing a clean separation between layers is often difficult and a
high-level layer may have to interact directly with lower-level layers rather than
through the layer immediately below it. Performance can be a problem
because of multiple levels of interpretation of a service request as it is
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processed at each layer. 20/11/2025 21
A generic layered architecture
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The architecture of the iLearn system
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Repository architecture
• Sub-systems must exchange data. This may be done in two ways:
• Shared data is held in a central database or repository and may be accessed by all sub-
systems;
• Each sub-system maintains its own database and passes data explicitly to other sub-
systems.
• When large amounts of data are to be shared, the repository model of
sharing is most commonly used a this is an efficient data sharing mechanism.
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The Repository pattern
Name Repository
Description All data in a system is managed in a central repository that is accessible
to all system components. Components do not interact directly, only
through the repository.
Example Figure 6.9 is an example of an IDE where the components use a
repository of system design information. Each software tool generates
information which is then available for use by other tools.
When used You should use this pattern when you have a system in which large
volumes of information are generated that has to be stored for a long
time. You may also use it in data-driven systems where the inclusion of
data in the repository triggers an action or tool.
Advantages Components can be independent—they do not need to know of the
existence of other components. Changes made by one component can
be propagated to all components. All data can be managed consistently
(e.g., backups done at the same time) as it is all in one place.
Disadvantages The repository is a single point of failure so problems in the repository
affect the whole system. May be inefficiencies in organizing all
communication through the repository. Distributing the repository across
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several computers may be difficult. 20/11/2025 25
A repository architecture for an IDE
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Client-server architecture
• Distributed system model which shows how data and processing is
distributed across a range of components.
• Can be implemented on a single computer.
• Set of stand-alone servers which provide specific services such as printing,
data management, etc.
• Set of clients which call on these services.
• Network which allows clients to access servers.
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The Client–server pattern
Name Client-server
Description In a client–server architecture, the functionality of the system is
organized into services, with each service delivered from a
separate server. Clients are users of these services and access
servers to make use of them.
Example Figure 6.11 is an example of a film and video/DVD library organized
as a client–server system.
When used Used when data in a shared database has to be accessed from a
range of locations. Because servers can be replicated, may also be
used when the load on a system is variable.
Advantages The principal advantage of this model is that servers can be
distributed across a network. General functionality (e.g., a printing
service) can be available to all clients and does not need to be
implemented by all services.
Disadvantages Each service is a single point of failure so susceptible to denial of
service attacks or server failure. Performance may be unpredictable
because it depends on the network as well as the system. May be
management problems if servers are owned by different
organizations.
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A client–server architecture for a film library
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Pipe and filter architecture
• Functional transformations process their inputs to produce outputs.
• May be referred to as a pipe and filter model (as in UNIX shell).
• Variants of this approach are very common. When transformations are
sequential, this is a batch sequential model which is extensively used in data
processing systems.
• Not really suitable for interactive systems.
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The pipe and filter pattern
Name Pipe and filter
Description The processing of the data in a system is organized so that each processing
component (filter) is discrete and carries out one type of data transformation. The data
flows (as in a pipe) from one component to another for processing.
Example Figure 6.13 is an example of a pipe and filter system used for processing invoices.
When used Commonly used in data processing applications (both batch- and transaction-based)
where inputs are processed in separate stages to generate related outputs.
Advantages Easy to understand and supports transformation reuse. Workflow style matches the
structure of many business processes. Evolution by adding transformations is
straightforward. Can be implemented as either a sequential or concurrent system.
Disadvantages The format for data transfer has to be agreed upon between communicating
transformations. Each transformation must parse its input and unparse its output to
the agreed form. This increases system overhead and may mean that it is impossible
to reuse functional transformations that use incompatible data structures.
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An example of the pipe and filter architecture
used in a payments system
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