Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond, Second Edition

About the Cover

The cover shows a bird’s wing, a motif chosen because it has much in common with software architecture. Rather than appeal to the overused analogy of house architectures, we find physiological systems to be a richer metaphor for software and system architectures. Among such systems, a bird’s wing is one of the most compelling examples.

How would you “document” a bird’s wing for someone who did not know what it was? A bird’s wing, like a software system, can be shown by emphasizing any of a number of structures—nerves, feathers, bones, blood vessels, muscles; each structure must be compatible with the others and must work toward fulfilling a common purpose. Feathers are elements that, at a glance, appear to be replicated countless ...