Using Planning Techniques to Assist Quality-driven Architectural Design Exploration

JORGE ANDRES DIAZ PACE; MARCELO R. CAMPO

LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

Springer (LNCS 4880)

Lugar: Berlin Heidelberg; Año: 2007 p. 33 - 52

0302-9743

A software architecture design captures the main decisions regarding the quality-attribute requirements for a system. When constructing these designs, the architect normally evaluates and combines solutions with different quality-attribute tradeoffs. This exploration of the design space can be seen as a searching problem, in which the architect?s expertise is what directs the search towards a ?good-enough? solution. Nonetheless, given complexity of this search, assisting the architect with adequate tool support becomes indispensable. In this context, we have investigated the utility of a planningbased tool approach called DesignBots to explore design alternatives. Specifically, the approach considers quality-attribute issues as goals achievable by combinations of architectural mechanisms, which are generated by a mixedinitiative and hierarchical planning engine. Our experiences with DesignBots show that the planning approach effectively helps architects to explore design alternatives productively.