Top-down composition of software architectures

This paper discusses an approach for top-down composition of software architectures. First, an architecture is derived that addresses functional requirements only. This architecture contains a number of variability, points which are next filled in to address quality concerns. The quality requirements and associated architectural solution fragments are captured in a so-called Feature-Solution (FS) graph. The solution fragments captured in this graph are used to iteratively compose an architecture. Our versatile composition technique allows for pre- and post-refinements, and refinements that involve multiple variability points. In addition, the usage of the FS graph supports Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) at the architecture level.