Exploring Approaches of Integration Software Architecture Modeling with Quality Analysis Models

Abstract

One of the important benefits of model-to-model transformation is that it allows architects to design iteratively by analyzing and studying alternative or optimal solutions without redesign of the software architecture models or quality analytic models. The main contribution of this work is the presentation of five recently approaches based on the definition of a framework which applies separation of concerns in viewpoints and perspectives. The framework definition identifies viewpoints and their sets of concerns regarding the approaches achieving the goal of integration and interoperability of tools in a model-driven and quality-driven software architecture development. Each approach presentation is a multiple views description, where a view conforms to a viewpoint. The quality of each approach depends on the perspective under which the approach is analyzed. By applying various perspectives on the views composing each approach a software architect or a modeler can select the most appropriate one. Also based on this framework of presentation, the study identifies a current state of the research in the domain defined by these representative approaches, existent limitations and future research directions.