Reducing maintenance costs through the application of modern software architecture principles

ABSTRACT

Large software programs are usually long lived and continually evolve. Substantial maintenance effort is often extended by engineers trying to understand the software prior to making changes. To successfully evolve the software, a thorough understanding of the architect's intentions about software organization is required. Software maintenance costs can be reduced significantly if the software architecture is well defined, clearly documented, and creates an environment that promotes design consistency through the use of guidelines and design patterns. Building a maintainable system depends upon the consistent application of these architectural practices. This paper describes the application of modern software architecture methods to achieve a maintainable implementation of a large, distributed, real-time, embedded software system.

REFERENCES

• 1: Grady Booch, Object-oriented analysis and design with applications (2nd ed.), Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Co., Inc., Redwood City, CA, 1993
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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

General Terms:
Design, Languages, Management

Keywords:
architecture, design patterns, modeling, real-time software, software maintenance