University of Alberta

Software Architecture

The way that software components — subroutines, classes, functions, etc. — are arranged, and the interactions between them, is called architecture.
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Length 3 to 4 weeks
Effort 5-8 hours per week
Price Free
Subject Design, Computer Science
Level Intermediate
Languages English
Video Transcripts English
About this Course
In this course you will study the ways these architectures are represented, both in UML and other visual tools. We will introduce the most common architectures, their qualities, and tradeoffs. We will talk about how architectures are evaluated, what makes a good architecture, and an architecture can be improved. We'll also talk about how the architecture touches on the process of software development.
In the Capstone Project you will document a Java-based Android application with UML diagrams and analyze evaluate the application’s architecture using the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM).

What you'll learn

:

  • Compare and contrast the components, connections, protocols, topologies, constraints, tradeoffs, and variations of different types of architectural styles used in the design of applications and systems (e.g., main program and subroutine, object-oriented, interpreters, pipes and filters, database centric, event-based).

  • Describe the properties of layered and n-tier architectures.

  • Create UML ipackage, component, and deployment diagrams to express the architectural structure of a system.

  • Explain the behaviour of a system using UML activity diagrams.

  • Document a multi-application system with a layered architecture.

Course syllabus

Week 1: UML Architecture Diagrams Week 2: Architectural Styles Week 3: Architecture in Practice Week 4: Capstone Challenge

Meet the instructors

Kenny Wong

Associate Professor

Computing Science, Faculty of Science