madhavrao…

What is Software Architecture?

There are many definitions available for this. My personal favorite is one available at http://www.bredemeyer.com/whatis.htm

Software Architecture is set of decisions made by Software Architect while designing the Software. Set of decisions which are architecturally significant, and it varies from scenario to scenario.

Software Architecture is commonly defined in terms of components and connectors. Components are identified and assigned responsibilities. Connectors are component interconnections which specify communication and control mechanism, and support all component interactions needed to accomplish system behavior.

In defining Architecture, following things are considered:

1. System decomposition into components/sub-systems
2. Completeness of the System by connecting decomposed components/Sub-systems
3. Interconnections of decomposed components/sub-system
4. Cross cutting Concerns (non-functional requirements)