Software Architecture Viewpoint Models: A Short Survey

A software architecture is a complex entity that cannot be described in a simple one-dimensional fashion. The architecture views used to describe software provide the architect with ameans of explaining the architecture to stakeholders. Each view presents different aspects of the system that fulfill functionaland non-functional requirements. A view of a system is a representation of the system from the perspective of a viewpoint.Architecture viewpoints in software products provide guidelines to describe uniformly the total system and its subsystems. It defines the stakeholders whose concerns are reflected in the viewpoint and the guidelines, principles, and template models for constructing its views. The results of this study may serve asa roadmap to the software developers and architects in helping them select the appropriate viewpoint model based on the stakeholders and concerns that need to be covered by views.

Keywords:

software architecture , view , viewpoint , architectural description , stakeholder , viewpoint model