Lecture 8: Chapter 8

 Design Concepts

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Design
 Good software design should exhibit:
 Firmness: A program should not have any bugs
that inhibit its function.
 Commodity: A program should be suitable for the
purposes for which it was intended.
 Delight: The experience of using the program
should be pleasurable one.

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Analysis Model -> Design Model

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Design and Quality Goals
 The design must implement all of the explicit
requirements contained in the analysis model, and it
must accommodate all of the implicit requirements
desired by the customer.
 The design must be a readable, understandable
guide for those who generate code and for those
who test and subsequently support the software.
 The design should provide a complete picture of the
software, addressing the data, functional, and
behavioral domains from an implementation
perspective.

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How to achieve the Quality
 A design should exhibit an architecture that (1) has been created using
recognizable architectural styles or patterns, (2) is composed of components that
exhibit good design characteristics and (3) can be implemented in an evolutionary
fashion
 For smaller systems, design can sometimes be developed linearly.
 A design should be modular; that is, the software should be logically partitioned
into elements or subsystems
 A design should contain distinct representations of data, architecture, interfaces,
and components.
 A design should lead to data structures that are appropriate for the classes to be
implemented and are drawn from recognizable data patterns.
 A design should lead to components that exhibit independent functional
characteristics.
 A design should lead to interfaces that reduce the complexity of connections
between components and with the external environment.
 A design should be derived using a repeatable method that is driven by information
obtained during software requirements analysis.
 A design should be represented using a notation that effectively communicates its
meaning.

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Fundamental Concepts in Design
 Abstraction—data, procedure, control
 Architecture—the overall structure of the software
 Patterns—”conveys the essence” of a proven design solution
 Separation of concerns—any complex problem can be more easily handled if
it is subdivided into pieces
 Modularity—manifestation of separation of concerns
 Information Hiding—controlled interfaces, no details of algorithms/data
 Functional independence—single-minded function and low coupling
 Refinement—elaboration of detail for all abstractions
 Aspects—a mechanism for understanding how global requirements affect
design
 Refactoring—a reorganization technique that simplifies the design
 OO design concepts—Appendix II
 Design Classes—provide design detail that will enable analysis classes to be
implemented

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Data Abstraction
door

manufacturer
model number
type
swing direction
inserts
lights
type
number
weight
opening mechanism

implemented as a data structure

Describes the door object 7

Procedural Abstraction
open

details of enter
algorithm

implemented with a "knowledge" of the

object that is associated with enter

Sequence of instructions for a function 8

Software Architecture
“The overall structure of the software and the
ways in which that structure provides
conceptual integrity for a system.” [SHA95a]
Structural properties. This aspect of the architectural
design representation defines the components of a system
(e.g., modules, objects, filters) and the manner in which those
components are packaged and interact with one another. For
example, objects are packaged to encapsulate both data and
the processing that manipulates the data and interact via the
invocation of methods
Extra-functional properties. The architectural design
description should address how the design architecture
achieves requirements for performance, capacity, reliability,
security, adaptability, and other system characteristics.
Families of related systems. The architectural design
should draw upon repeatable patterns that are commonly
encountered in the design of families of similar systems. In
essence, the design should have the ability to reuse
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architectural building blocks.
 Patterns
Design Pattern Template
Pattern name—describes the essence of the pattern in a short but
expressive name
Intent—describes the pattern and what it does
Also-known-as—lists any synonyms for the pattern
Motivation—provides an example of the problem
Applicability—notes specific design situations in which the pattern is
applicable
Structure—describes the classes that are required to implement the
pattern
Participants—describes the responsibilities of the classes that are
required to implement the pattern
Collaborations—describes how the participants collaborate to carry out
their responsibilities
Consequences—describes the “design forces” that affect the pattern
and the potential trade-offs that must be considered when the pattern
is implemented
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Related patterns—cross-references related design patterns
Separation of Concerns
 Any complex problem can be more easily
handled if it is subdivided into pieces that
can each be solved and/or optimized
independently
 A concern is a feature or behavior that is
specified as part of the requirements model
for the software
 By separating concerns into smaller, and
therefore more manageable pieces, a
problem takes less effort and time to solve.

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Modularity
 "modularity is the single attribute of software that
allows a program to be intellectually manageable"
[Mye78].
 Monolithic software (i.e., a large program composed of
a single module) cannot be easily grasped by a software
engineer.
 The number of control paths, span of reference, number of
variables, and overall complexity would make
understanding close to impossible.
 In almost all instances, you should break the design
into many modules, hoping to make understanding
easier and as a consequence, reduce the cost required
to build the software.
 BUT: Pay attention to integration costs too.

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Modularity: Trade-offs
What is the "right" number of modules
for a specific software design?
module development cost

cost of
software

module
integration
cost

optimal number number of modules

of modules
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Information Hiding
module • algorithm
controlled
interface • data structure

• details of external interface

• resource allocation policy

clients "secret"

a specific design decision

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Why Information Hiding?
 reduces the likelihood of “side effects”
 limits the global impact of local design
decisions
 emphasizes communication through
controlled interfaces
 discourages the use of global data
 leads to encapsulation—an attribute of
high quality design
 results in higher quality software

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Functional Independence
 Functional independence is achieved by developing
modules with "single-minded" function and an
"aversion" to excessive interaction with other
modules.
 Cohesion is an indication of the relative functional
strength of a module.
 A cohesive module performs a single task, requiring
little interaction with other components in other parts
of a program. Stated simply, a cohesive module should
(ideally) do just one thing.
 Coupling is an indication of the relative
interdependence among modules.
 Coupling depends on the interface complexity between
modules, the point at which entry or reference is made
to a module, and what data pass across the interface.

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Stepwise Refinement
open

walk to door;
reach for knob;

open door; repeat until door opens

turn knob clockwise;
walk through; if knob doesn't turn, then
close door. take key out;
find correct key;
insert in lock;
endif
pull/push door
move out of way;
end repeat

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Aspects
 From the requirements analysis
 Use case, feature, data structure, etc.
 Consider two requirements, A and B.
Requirement A crosscuts requirement B “if a
software decomposition [refinement] has
been chosen in which B cannot be satisfied
without taking A into account. [Ros04]
 An aspect is a representation of a cross-
cutting concern.

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Aspects—An Example
 Consider two requirements for the SafeHomeAssured.com WebApp.
 Requirement A is described via the use-case Access camera
surveillance via the Internet. A design refinement would focus on
those modules that would enable a registered user to access video
from cameras placed throughout a space.
 Requirement B is a generic security requirement that states that a
registered user must be validated prior to using
SafeHomeAssured.com. This requirement is applicable for all
functions that are available to registered SafeHome users.
 As design refinement occurs, A* is a design representation for
requirement A and B* is a design representation for requirement B.
Therefore, A* and B* are representations of concerns, and B* cross-
cuts A*.
 An aspect is a representation of a cross-cutting concern. Therefore,
the design representation, B*, of the requirement, a registered user
must be validated prior to using SafeHomeAssured.com, is an aspect
of the SafeHome WebApp.

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Refactoring
 Fowler [FOW99] defines refactoring in the following
manner:
 "Refactoring is the process of changing a software system in such
a way that it does not alter the external behavior of the code
[design] yet improves its internal structure.”
 When software is refactored, the existing design is
examined for
 redundancy
 unused design elements
 inefficient or unnecessary algorithms
 poorly constructed or inappropriate data structures
 or any other design failure that can be corrected to yield a better
design.

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OO Design Concepts
 Design classes
 Entity classes
 Boundary classes
 Controller classes
 Inheritance—all responsibilities of a superclass is
immediately inherited by all subclasses
 Messages—stimulate some behavior to occur in the
receiving object
 Polymorphism—a characteristic that greatly reduces the
effort required to extend the design

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Design Classes
 Analysis classes are refined during design to become entity
classes
 Boundary classes are developed during design to create the
interface (e.g., interactive screen or printed reports) that the
user sees and interacts with as the software is used.
 Boundary classes are designed with the responsibility of
managing the way entity objects are represented to users.
 Controller classes are designed to manage
 the creation or update of entity objects;
 the instantiation of boundary objects as they obtain information
from entity objects;
 complex communication between sets of objects;
 validation of data communicated between objects or between the
user and the application.

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The Design Model

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Design Model Elements
 Data elements
 Data model --> data structures
 Data model --> database architecture
 Architectural elements
 Like floor plan of a house
 Analysis classes, their relationships, collaborations and
behaviors are transformed into design realizations
 Patterns and “styles” (Chapters 9 and 12)
 Interface elements
 the user interface (UI)
 external interfaces to other systems, devices, networks or
other producers or consumers of information
 internal interfaces between various design components.
 Component elements
 Deployment elements

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Architectural Elements
 The architectural model [Sha96] is
derived from three sources:
 information about the application domain for
the software to be built;
 specific requirements model elements such as
data flow diagrams or analysis classes, their
relationships and collaborations for the
problem at hand, and
 the availability of architectural patterns
(Chapter 12) and styles (Chapter 9).

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Interface Elements

Like windows, doors, etc. of a house

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Component Elements
 Specifies the details of components
 Similar to the plumbing, electrical, details of every room in
a floor plan
 SensorManagement performs all functions
regarding sensors

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Deployment Elements
 How subsystems will
be allocated in the
physical environment
 Computing
environment but no
details about hardware

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