Building Web Applications with UML Second Edition

Chapter 7. Defining the Architecture

Architecture is about everything. This is just one of the reasons that it is especially difficult to define, not to mention describe. The term itself means different things to different people. For some, it is the set of middleware that the application uses. For others, it is much richer and describes all the significant decisions made in the process of developing the application.

The best way to approach the topic of architecture is to think about how it is going to be used and who its audience is. The architect or the architecture team has the sole responsibility of defining and communicating the system's architecture. The architecture's key role is to define the set of constraints placed on the design ...