Software Architecture & Engineering

Front 1

What are the 6 levels of Architecture

Back 1

The 6 levels of architecture are:

• enterprise
• application, product
• embeded system
• infrastructure (system, network)
• platform
• CPU

Front 2

Enterprise architecture

Back 2

• is an attempt to get to grips with “everything”
• contains different models with different emphasis
• is in general top-down starting with the business

Front 3

Software architecture

Back 3

Software architecture is high-level requirements & design of a software

system

Front 4

What are the 4 layers in the Enterprise view

Back 4

the 4 layers in the enterprise view are:

1. Business
2. Data
3. Application
4. Technology

Front 5

Describe the steps in the TOGAF model

Back 5

Preliminary phase: Frameworks & Principles

A: Architecture Vision

B: Business Architecture

C: Information Systems Architecture

D: Technology Architecture

E: Opportunities and Solutions

F: Migration Planning

G: Implementation Governance

H: Architecture Change Management

Front 6

What is the ISO/IEC/IEEE defenition of Architecture ?

Back 6

(System) fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution

Front 7

Why use an Architecture ?

Back 7

• shared understanding, the big picture
• a basis for further design and implementation
• align stakeholders, make requirements explicit
• resolve conflicting requirements > tradeoffs
• a framework for evaluating requirements
• what-if analysis
• emphasis on system‟s quality attributes
• manage complexity
• avoiding duplication

Front 8

How do requirements relate to architecture

Back 8

requirements are an input to architecture they frame the architectural problem. An architecture is a framework for evaluating requirements

Front 9

What is the relationship between architecture and design

Back 9

architecture frames design, architecture is part of the design process but not all design is architectural.

Front 10

What is an Architectural Description (AD)?

Back 10

An architectural description (AD) is a set of products which documents an architecture in a way which is understandable by its stakeholders.

Front 11

What products are present in an Architectural Description (AD) ?

Back 11

the products in an architectural description (AD) include:

• Views
• models
• principles
• constraints

Front 12

How detailed should an Architectural Description(AD) be ?

Back 12

the architectural description (AD) should show the overall picture, but also decompose into enough detail.

Front 13

What are some of the challenges in creating an Architectural Description(AD) ?

Back 13

some of the challenges in creating an Architectural Description(AD) are:

• Different stakeholders need different things from the AD
• some stakeholders are very knowledgeable, others aren't
• you never have enough time to fully document the architecture.
• you have to leave some areas undefined or vaguely defined without losing credibility
• the AD needs to capture design decisions and the rationale clearly without confusing readers with too many irrelevant details and options.
• the AD needs to be sufficiently detailed to unequivocally answer all the important decisions.

Front 14

name 4 structures that can be defined by an Architecture

Back 14

• Functional structure
• information structure
• concurrency structure
• design time structure

Front 15

What are some challenges when dealing with many structures ?

Back 15

• organization of ideas
• understanding different aspects simultaneously
• dealing with different aspects equally
• consistency

Front 16

What is the difference between an Architectural View and a view ?

Back 16

none, they are synonyms for the same thing.

Front 17

Give the definition of an Architectural View

Back 17

An architectural view is a representation of the whole system, as seen through the prism of specific concerns.

Front 18

Why is it wise to create multiple views instead of a single model ?

Back 18

it is impossible to describe a software architecture by using a single model. such a model is hard to understand and is unlikely to clearly identify the architecture’s most important features. It also tends to poorly serve individual stakeholders because they struggle to understand the aspects that interest them.

Front 19

which of the following statements is correct

1. A view consists of solely ONE model that represent it
2. using multiple views is essential for both designing and describing an architecture.

Back 19

only statement 2 is correct

A view consists of one OR more models that represent it

Front 20

Which of the following statements are incorrect

1. a view is a pattern of a generalized viewpoint
2. a view is the class (or template), the viewpoint is the instance.
3. models (e.g. diagrams) are the artifacts from which the view is made.

Back 20

statement 1 and statement 2 are incorrect.

a viewpoint is a pattern or generalization of a view

the viewpoint is the class (or template), the view is the instance

Front 21

Provide the missing keywords for A, B, C in the following diagram about Architectural Descriptions.

Back 21

A = Architectural Description

B = View

C = Viewpoint

Front 22

What are the 5 views in the Rup / Kruchten 4+1 model ?

Back 22

1. Logical View

2. Implementation View

3. Use-case View

4. Process View

5. Deployment View

Front 23

What can be said about the Quality attributes in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model ?

Back 23

Quality attributes are less explicit in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model

Front 24

Fill in the missing keywords in this diagram of the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model

Back 24

A = Logical View

B = Implementation View

C = Process View

D = Deployment View

E = Use-Case View

Front 25

Give a short description for each View in the Rup/Kruchten 4+1 model

Back 25

1. Logical view: describes the functional structure and behavior of the system.
2. implementation view: describes the organization of the software modules and implementation details.
3. Process View: this view deals with the dynamic aspects of the system, like threads & processes, inter-process communication, scheduling aspects and shared resources.
4. Deployment View: shows how the run-time entities are mapped on the execution platform and the hardware.
5. Use-Case view: Key scenarios that drive the discovery, design and validation of the architecture

Front 26

The Rup/Kruchten 4+1 model is:

a) rather technically oriented

b) rather focused on the users of the system

Back 26

A

Front 27

What is another name used for Physical View ?

Back 27

Deployment View

Front 28

What is another name used for Scenarios in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model ?

Back 28

Use-Case View

Front 29

Give the definition of a Viewpoint

Back 29

A viewpoint is a collection of patterns, templates, and conventions for constructing one type of view. It defines the stakeholders whose concerns are reflected in the viewpoint and the guidelines, principles and template models for constructing its views.

Front 30

list the viewpoints of the Rozanski & Woods viewpoint set.

Back 30

1. Context Viewpoint
2. Functional Viewpoint
3. Information Viewpoint
4. Concurrency Viewpoint
5. Development Viewpoint
6. Deployment Viewpoint
7. Operational Viewpoint

Front 31

Which of the following statements is/are correct:

1. The R&W viewpoint set is an extension and refinement of the Kruchten's set.

2. The Viewmodel of Rozanski & Woods is aimed at old, large scale and distributed information systems.

Back 31

Only Statement 1 is correct.

The Viewmodel of Rozanski & Woods is aimed at new, large scale and distributed information systems.

Front 32

Fill in the missing keywords in this diagram of the Rozanski & Woods viewpoint set.

Back 32

A = Context Viewpoint

B = Functional Viewpoint

C = Information Viewpoint

D = Concurrency Viewpoint

E = Development Viewpoint

F = Deployment Viewpoint

G = Operational Viewpoint

Front 33

What is the definition of Quality Properties

Back 33

Quality Properties are the non-functional characteristics of the system.

Front 34

list 5 examples of Quality Properties

Back 34

1. Performance
2. Efficiency
3. Security
4. Maintainability
5. availability

Front 35

Give some reasons why quality properties are crucial to stakeholders

Back 35

• Slow functions don't get used
• unavailable systems cause business interruption
• security problems cause headlines
• unmaintainable systems become irrelevant

Front 36

what is the definition of Perspectives ?

Back 36

A perspective is a collection of patterns, templates and guidelines to ensure the system has the right quality properties

Front 37

What is the focus, result and guidance of a Viewpoint ?

Back 37

Focus: a type of structure

Result: a view - model(s), a primary arch structure

Guidance: models to create, advice based on practice

Front 38

What is the focus, result and guidance of a Perspective ?

Back 38

focus: a quality property

Result: changes to views, supporting artifacts

Guidance: a process for application, advice based on practice.

Front 39

is the following statement correct ?

"You apply perspectives to the architecture to ensure quality properties are acceptable and guide it's development"

Back 39

Yes

Front 40

Fill in the missing keywords on positions A,B,C

Back 40

A = View

B = Viewpoint

C = Perspective

Front 41

In order to describe a perspective several aspects need to be elaborated on. What are those aspects ?

Back 41

1. Desired quality
2. applicability
3. concerns
4. activities
5. tactics
6. problems and pitfalls

Front 42

What is an Architectural tactic

Back 42

an architectural tactic is an established approach or solution you can use to achieve a particular quality property (QP)

Front 43

how does one apply architectural tactics ? describe the 4 steps that need to be completed in order to do so.

Back 43

1. identify the relevant tactics
2. evaluate (dis)advantages for implementing the key-drivers
3. evaluate their relationship (e.g. contradiction)
4. make appropriate design decisions

Front 44

list the core perspectives

Back 44

1. performance and scalability
2. security
3. availability and resilience
4. evolution

Front 45

what are the concerns of the Performance and Scalability perspective ?

Back 45

the concerns of the Performance and Scalability perspective are:

• Processing volume
• response time
• responsiveness
• throughput
• predictability

Front 46

What are the tactics of the Performance and Scalability perspective ?

Back 46

the tactics of the Performance and Scalability perspective are:

• optimize repeated processing
• reduce contention via replication
• prioritize processing
• consolidate related workload
• distribute processing over time
• minimize the use of shared resources
• partition and parallelize
• use asynchronous processing
• make design compromises

Front 47

What are the concerns of the Security perspective ?

Back 47

• Authentication
• authorization
• confidentiality
• integrity
• accountability
• availability
• intrusion detection
• recovery

Front 48

What are the tactics of the Security perspective ?

Back 48

• apply recognized security principles
• authenticate the principals
• authorize access
• ensure information secrecry
• ensure information integrity
• vulnerability analysis
• application of security technology

Front 49

What are the concerns of the Availability and Resilience perspective

Back 49

• classess of service
• planned/unplanned downtime
• Mean time between failure (MTBF)
• Mean time to repair (MTTR)
• disaster recovery
• redundancy
• clustering
• failover

Front 50

What are the tactics of the Availability and Resilience perspective ?

Back 50

• Select fault-tolerant hardware
• use hardware clustering and load balancing
• log transactions
• apply software availability solutions
• select fault-tolerant software
• identify backup and disaster recovery solutions

Front 51

What are the concerns of the Evolution perspective

Back 51

• Magnitude of change
• dimensions of change
• likelihood of change
• timescale for change
• development complexity
• preservation of knowledge
  • reliability of change

Front 52

What are the tactics of the Evolution perspective

Back 52

• contain/encapsulate change
• create flexible interfaces
• apply change-oriented architectural styles
  • build variation points into the software (use patterns)
• achieve reliable change
• preserve development environments
  • achieve reliable change (configuration management, automated testing, ci, cd)

Front 53

what are the two questions that need to be answered before applying a perspective

Back 53

• Which perspectives would help you to achieve your quality properties (QP's) ?
• Where may you have conflicts if applying different relevant perspectives ?

Front 54

is the following statement correct ?

an architectural pattern often implements multiple tactics, usually related to different qualities, in a coherent way

Back 54

yes

Front 55

What is the definition of an architectural tactic ?

Back 55

an architectural tactic is an established approach or solution you can use to achieve a particular quality property (QP)

Front 56

What are the 3 levels of software patterns ?

Back 56

1. architecture (system level)
2. design (subsystem level)
3. language idioms (block level)

Front 57

Give an example for each level of software pattern

Back 57

1. architecture (system level)
   - client/server
2. design (subsystem level)
   - observer
3. language idioms (block level)
   - how to loop through a list of items in Java

Front 58

What are the 3 pattern categories ?

Back 58

1. creational patterns
2. structural patterns
3. behavioral patterns

Front 59

Give a description of each pattern category

Back 59

1. creational patterns
   - involve object instantiation and provide a way to decouple client from objects it needs to instantiate
2. structural patterns
   - let you compose classes or objects into larger structures.
3. behavioral patterns
   - concerned with how classes and objects interact and distribute responsibility

Front 60

Give an example of each pattern category

Back 60

1. creational patterns
   - e.g. singleton pattern ensures a class has only one instance
2. structural patterns
   - e.g. decorator pattern is used in java.io classes
3. behavioral patterns
   - e.g. observer pattern, a design where observable and observers are loosely coupled

Front 61

What is the definition of an architectural element ?

Back 61

an architectural element is a clearly identifiable, architecturally meaningful piece of a system

Front 62

What is the definition of a stakeholder ?

Back 62

a stakeholder is a person, group or entity with interest in or concerns about the realization of the architecture.

Front 63

Give a short description of the context viewpoint in the R & W viewpoint set.

Back 63

the context viewpoint describes the relationships, dependencies and interactions between the system and it's environment

Front 64

Give a short description of the functional viewpoint in the R & W viewpoint set

Back 64

the functional viewpoint describes the system's run time functional elements, their responsibilities, interfaces, and primary interactions

Front 65

Give a short description of the information viewpoint in the R & W viewpoint set

Back 65

the information viewpoint describes the way that the system stores, manipulates, manages, and distributes information

Front 66

Give a short description of the concurrency viewpoint in the R & W viewpoint set

Back 66

the concurrency viewpoint describes the concurrency structure of the system and maps functional elements to concurrency units to clearly identify the parts of the system that can execute concurrently and how this is coordinated and controlled.

Front 67

Give a short description of the development viewpoint in the R & W viewpoint set

Back 67

the development viewpoint describes the architecture that supports the software development process.

Front 68

Give a short description of the deployment viewpoint in the R & W viewpoint set

Back 68

the deployment viewpoint describes the environment into which the system will be deployed and the dependencies that the system has on elements of it.

Front 69

Give a short description of the operational viewpoint in the R & W viewpoint set

Back 69

the operational viewpoint describes how the sytem will be operated, administered, and supported when it is running in its production environment.

Front 70

List the stakeholders of the Logical view in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 view model

Back 70

the stakeholders of the logical view are:
- acquirers
- end users
- developers
- maintainers of the system

Front 71

List the stakeholders of the Implementation view in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 view model

Back 71

the stakeholders of the implementation view are:
- developers
- software management
- configuration management

Front 72

List the stakeholders of the process view in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 view model

Back 72

the stakeholders of the process view are:
- acquirers
- developers
- maintainers
- system integrators

Front 73

List the stakeholders of the deployment view in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 view model

Back 73

the stakeholders of the deployment view are:
- acquirers
- system engineers

Front 74

List the stakeholders of the Use-Case view in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 view model

Back 74

the stakeholders of the Use-Case View are:

- users of the system

- acquirers

- developers
- maintainers
- testers

Front 75

What are the deliverables of the Logical View in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model.

Back 75

The deliverables of the Logical View are:

• Component Diagram

• Class Diagram
• ERD Diagram

Front 76

What are the deliverables of the Implementation View in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model?

Back 76

The deliverables of the implementation view are:

• Package Diagram(s)
• File structures
• Description of frameworks, libraries, programming language(s)

Front 77

What are the deliverables of the Process View in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model?

Back 77

the deliverables of the Process view are:

• Activity Diagram
• Sequence Diagram

Front 78

What are the deliverables of the Deployment View in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model?

Back 78

the deliverables of the Deployment view are:

• Deployment diagram

Front 79

What are the deliverables of the Use-case view in the RUP/Kruchten 4+1 model?

Back 79

the deliverables of the Use-case view are:

• Use Case Diagram(s)
  
• Use Case descriptions
• Use Case realizations