Evaluating Software Architectures: Development Stability and Evolution

We survey seminal work on software architecture evaluationmethods. We then look at an emerging class of methodsthat explicates evaluating software architectures forstability and evolution. We define architectural stabilityand formulate the problem of evaluating software architecturesfor stability and evolution. We draw the attention onthe use of Architectures Description Languages (ADLs) forsupporting the evaluation of software architectures in generaland for architectural stability in specific

The future of computing beyond Moore's Law.

Moore's Law is a techno-economic model that has enabled the information technology industry to double the performance and functionality of digital electronics roughly every 2 years within a fixed cost, power and area. Advances in silicon lithography have enabled this exponential miniaturization of electronics, but, as transistors reach atomic scale and fabrication costs continue to rise, the classical technological driver that has underpinned Moore's Law for 50 years is failing and is anticipated to flatten by 2025. This article provides an updated view of what a post-exascale system will look like and the challenges ahead, based on our most recent understanding of technology roadmaps. It also discusses the tapering of historical improvements, and how it affects options available to continue scaling of successors to the first exascale machine. Lastly, this article covers the many different opportunities and strategies available to continue computing performance improvements in the absence of historical technology drivers. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Numerical algorithms for high-performance computational science'

Dimitris Pikionis: Roads of the Times

Dimitris Pikionis: Roads of the Time

Towards a theory of software engineering

A theory of software engineering (SE) is presented and its application to explaining and analysing SE situations is illustrated. The theory is based on a characterization of SE representations and the fundamental activities that are applied to them. Motivations for developing a theory and means of establishing its validity are also discussed

Scentient beings and the external nervous system: ancient memories for fashion futures

To preserve one document about mankind for one million years . . . . A group of academics from the Sciences and Arts gather at KIST (Korea Institute of Science) in Germany to discuss the preservation of a 'human document' and what this might look like: what is human culture? what to include? top achievements or everyday life? textbooks? wikipedia? opinion? controversial topics? different geographical origins. how to document? language? line drawings? binary code? films and music? teaching through multiple languages? primary school textbooks? scientific encoding tables? where to put it? in a museum, visible to all? billions of copies? on the moon? in a desert or a city center? near geographically defined spots, Mariana trench, Ayers rock, Easter island? Gizeh, Xi‘an, Stonehenge? how to structure the document? linear text? large number of small chapters? puzzle? how to integrate a clock? radioactive isotopes? describing astronomical events? on what material? monocrystalline silicon? embedding in amber? DNA of a living organis

The History of Software Architecture - In the Eye of the Practitioner

Software architecture (SA) is celebrating 25 years. This is so if we consider the seminal papers establishing SA as a distinct discipline and scientific publications that have identified cornerstones of both research and practice, like architecture views, architecture description languages, and architecture evaluation. With the pervasive use of cloud provisioning, the dynamic integration of multi-party distributed services, and the steep increase in the digitalization of business and society, making sound design decisions encompasses an increasingly-large and complex problem space. The role of SA is essential as never before, so much so that no organization undertakes `serious' projects without the support of suitable architecture practices. But, how did SA practice evolve in the past 25 years? and What are the challenges ahead? There have been various attempts to summarize the state of research and practice of SA. Still, we miss the practitioners' view on the questions above. To fill this gap, we have first extracted the top-10 topics resulting from the analysis of 5,622 scientific papers. Then, we have used such topics to design an online survey filled out by 57 SA practitioners with 5 to 20+ years of experience. We present the results of the survey with a special focus on the SA topics that SA practitioners perceive, in the past, present and future, as the most impactful. We finally use the results to draw preliminary takeaways.Comment: 11 page