Architectural prototyping

Question 1

Give the ISO-style definition of an architectural prototype.

Answer 1

A set of executable artefacts created to investigate architectural qualities related to stakeholder concerns for a system under development. :contentReference[oaicite:26]{index=26}

Question 2

List the five characteristic “fingerprints” of an architectural prototype.

Answer 2

Learning tool, quality focus, minimal functionality, risk reduction, knowledge transfer. :contentReference[oaicite:27]{index=27}

Question 3

Name the three main flavours of architectural prototype.

Answer 3

Exploratory, Experimental (measurement), Evolutionary (grow-into-product). :contentReference[oaicite:28]{index=28}

Question 4

What is the primary purpose of exploratory prototypes?

Answer 4

To clarify requirements or compare broad architectural alternatives at low cost. :contentReference[oaicite:29]{index=29}

Question 5

Describe the hypothesis-experiment-conclusion loop used in prototyping.

Answer 5

Formulate a hypothesis, build/run the prototype to gather data, interpret results and decide whether to adopt, revise, or discard the idea. :contentReference[oaicite:30]{index=30}

Question 6

Which quality attributes are best suited to direct measurement with prototypes?

Answer 6

Performance, scalability, availability, and usability (when UI and backend can be separated). :contentReference[oaicite:31]{index=31}

Question 7

Which attributes are hardest to validate solely through prototyping?

Answer 7

Security (many threats need formal analysis) and long-term modifiability (often inferred from code inspection rather than runtime). :contentReference[oaicite:32]{index=32}

Question 8

How does an architectural backlog relate to prototypes?

Answer 8

Uncertainties and high-risk ASRs are logged as backlog items; prototypes are scheduled spikes to resolve or de-risk those items. :contentReference[oaicite:33]{index=33}

Question 9

State the main difference between exploratory and experimental prototypes.

Answer 9

Exploratory clarifies direction; experimental gathers quantitative evidence under controlled load or fault scenarios. :contentReference[oaicite:34]{index=34}

Question 10

Why are prototypes considered “measurement-based” evaluation techniques?

Answer 10

They produce empirical data (latency, throughput, fail-over time) rather than expert opinion, feeding into evaluation frameworks like ATAM. :contentReference[oaicite:35]{index=35}

Question 11

Give one availability tactic that can be validated with a prototype.

Answer 11

Active redundancy with heartbeat monitoring can be mocked and fail-over time measured on the prototype cluster. :contentReference[oaicite:36]{index=36}

Question 12

Summarise the Twitter SQL vs. Neo4J prototype experiment in one line.

Answer 12

A side-by-side spike showed graph DB read latency beat relational queries but buildability dropped; data informed migration planning. :contentReference[oaicite:37]{index=37}

Question 13

What did the legacy enterprise DevOps prototype demonstrate?

Answer 13

A modern CI/CD pipeline reduced build time and improved testability, offering concrete evidence to overcome organisational resistance. :contentReference[oaicite:38]{index=38}

Question 14

Why should prototype code track provenance and be disposable?

Answer 14

To avoid accidental production use of half-baked experiments and to keep architectural decisions auditable. :contentReference[oaicite:39]{index=39}

Question 15

When does an evolutionary prototype become part of the final system?

Answer 15

When iterative refinement hardens the prototype until it meets production quality, effectively seeding the product codebase. :contentReference[oaicite:40]{index=40}

Question 16

How can usability be tested with an architectural prototype?

Answer 16

By wiring UI screens to stubbed back-end services so UX researchers can observe user interaction early. :contentReference[oaicite:41]{index=41}

Question 17

What risk does an architectural prototype explicitly target?

Answer 17

The most uncertain or most expensive design decision identified during analysis or synthesis. :contentReference[oaicite:42]{index=42}

Question 18

Name two common tools or techniques for building prototypes.

Answer 18

Docker-compose for quick deployment topologies; Load-testing scripts (Locust, k6) for performance experiments. :contentReference[oaicite:43]{index=43}

Question 19

How does prototyping complement scenario-based reviews like ATAM?

Answer 19

Prototype metrics give hard evidence for sensitivity points and trade-offs uncovered in workshop discussions. :contentReference[oaicite:44]{index=44}

Question 20

Complete the sentence: “Prototype scope should be driven by …”

Answer 20

…the single stakeholder concern or ASR that poses the highest risk at the current project stage. :contentReference[oaicite:45]{index=45}

Question 21

What’s the danger of keeping a prototype secret from the main team?

Answer 21

Knowledge stays siloed; lessons aren’t transferred; architectural decisions may be repeated or contradicted. :contentReference[oaicite:46]{index=46}

Question 22

Give an example of a conditional criterion that decides prototype success.

Answer 22

“If average checkout latency under 2 000 concurrent users ≤ 500 ms, adopt caching layer; else reconsider data partitioning.” :contentReference[oaicite:47]{index=47}

Question 23

List a non-technical benefit of architectural prototyping.

Answer 23

It promotes shared understanding and buy-in, reducing resistance when major architectural shifts are proposed. :contentReference[oaicite:48]{index=48}

Question 24

Why might a prototype be discarded even if it ‘works’?

Answer 24

Code quality, scalability headroom, or licensing terms may make it cheaper to re-implement than to harden the throwaway spike. :contentReference[oaicite:49]{index=49}

Question 25

Provide a concise exam definition of architectural prototyping.

Answer 25

Building minimal, executable slices of the architecture to generate evidence about quality attributes and reduce design risk. :contentReference[oaicite:50]{index=50}