Architectural design rewriting as an architecture description language

Architectural Design Rewriting (ADR) is a declarative rule-based approach for the design of dynamic software architectures. The key features that make ADR a suitable and expressive framework are the algebraic presentation of graph-based structures and the use of conditional rewrite rules. These features enable the modelling of, e.g. hierarchical design, inductively defined reconfigurations and ordinary computation. Here, we promote ADR as an Architectural Description Language

Issues of Architectural Description Languages for Handling Dynamic Reconfiguration

Dynamic reconfiguration is the action of modifying a software system at runtime. Several works have been using architectural specification as the basis for dynamic reconfiguration. Indeed ADLs (architecture description languages) let architects describe the elements that could be reconfigured as well as the set of constraints to which the system must conform during reconfiguration. In this work, we investigate the ADL literature in order to illustrate how reconfiguration is supported in four well-known ADLs: pi-ADL, ACME, C2SADL and Dynamic Wright. From this review, we conclude that none of these ADLs: (i) addresses the issue of consistently reconfiguring both instances and types; (ii) takes into account the behaviour of architectural elements during reconfiguration; and (iii) provides support for assessing reconfiguration, e.g., verifying the transition against properties.Comment: 6\`eme Conf\'erence francophone sur les architectures logicielles (CAL'2012), Montpellier : France (2012

What do we mean by building function?

Scientific approaches to architecture usually avoid the issue of building form, preferring to focus on function. But how can there be a theory of function without a systematic analysis of the key architectural variable of form? A theory of description is required. In this paper it is argued that such a theory can be built through the analysis of spatial form in buildings. Then once spatial form is describable in terms of a descriptive theory, a more powerfully scientific - and architectural - understanding of function is possible. The argument draws on several pieces of research carried out by the authors and their students, but focusses eventually on various types of medical building in order to illustrate certain general principles

PALS/PRISM Software Design Description (SDD): Ver. 0.51

This Software Design Description (SDD) provides detailed information on the architecture and coding for the PRISM C++ library (version 0.51). The PRISM C++ library supports consistent information sharing and in- teractions between distributed components of networked embedded systems, e.g. avionics. It is designed to reduce the complexity of the networked sys- tem by employing synchronous semantics provided by the architectural pat- tern called a Physically-Asynchronous Logically-Synchronous (PALS) system.unpublishednot peer reviewe