Flashcards - FSE Week 5 Computer Science Study Set
What is Architectural Design concerned with?
Understanding how a software system should be organised and designing the overall structure of that system.
What is a critical link between design and requirements engineering?
Architectural design, as it identifies the main structural components in a system and the relationships between them.
What is the importance of selecting an appropriate architecture?
It determines how well the system can meet its non-functional requirements and facilitates stakeholder communication.
What do architectural representations often lack?
Semantics and detailed relationships between entities.
What type of diagrams are frequently used for documenting software architectures?
Simple, informal block diagrams showing entities and relationships.
What is a Layered Architecture used for?
To model the interfacing of sub-systems and organize the system into layers that provide a set of services.
What is a key advantage of clearly defining an architecture?
It allows for stakeholder communication and analysis of system capabilities.
What do architectural patterns describe?
Good design practice that has been tried and tested in different environments.
What are common application architectures used for?
They serve as a configuration template to adapt and create systems that meet specific application requirements.
What type of applications are Data processing applications?
Data-driven applications that process data without explicit user intervention, such as salary payment systems.
What does a Transaction Processing System do?
Processes user requests for information or updates from a database.
What is the role of the Application server in a multi-tier system?
It is responsible for implementing application-specific logic and information storage and retrieval requests.
What differentiates Client-Server Architecture?
It shows how data and processing are distributed across various components (servers and clients).
In an e-commerce system, what does the application-specific layer support?
A ‘shopping cart’ functionality for users to manage items in a single transaction.
What is a disadvantage of Box and Line diagrams?
They do not demonstrate the nature of component relationships or the properties of subsystems in detail.
What involves asynchronous service requests in a transaction?
A coherent sequence of operations that corresponds to a user’s goal, processed by a transaction manager.
How can application architectures assist a development team?
They provide a starting point for architectural design and a means of assessing components for reuse.
What are User communications a part of in Information Systems Architecture?
They are one of the layers in the generic architecture that interacts with users.
What is the primary function of the Database server in a multi-tier client-server architecture?
To handle transaction management and move information to and from the database.
What should architectural patterns include information about?
When they are useful and when they are not useful.
Which architecture organizes systems into layers with separate responsibilities?
Layered Architecture.
What is the primary focus of Week 5 in the Computer Science course?
System Modelling
What does UML stand for?
Unified Modeling Language
What are the four fundamental system modeling perspectives?
Context, Interaction, Structure, Behavior
