Title
Software architectural patterns in practice: an empirical study
Abstract
Software architecture involves a series of decisions based on many factors in a wide range of software development. Architects face recurring issues in different software architecture design, and to reduce huge cost and risks, software architecture decisions can rely on a set of idiomatic patterns commonly named architectural styles or patterns. Architectural pattern determines the vocabulary of components and connectors that are used in instances of the pattern together with a set of constraints to combine the two. Little contemporary data exists to document actual practices used by software professionals when selecting and incorporating architectural patterns for their projects in industry. Therefore, a comprehensive survey of software professionals was conducted to attempt to discover these practices. This exploratory survey and its quantitative results offer opportunities for further interpretation and comparison. Data from this survey are presented in this paper and include characteristics of projects, practices, organizations, and practitioners related to the usage of architectural patterns. Some of the notable findings include that architectural patterns are widely used in software projects with the Model–View–Controller being the most common. Despite reported difficulties in incorporating architectural patterns, the majority of the software professionals revealed that patterns were the most essential for completing the projects. The most difficult pattern to implement and the most expensive to adopt was the peer-to-peer, while the easiest was the client–server.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1007/s11334-018-0319-4
ISSE
Keywords
Field
DocType
Software architecture,Architectural patterns,Quality attributes,Common practices,Software professionals,Architectural tactics
Systems engineering,Software engineering,Computer science,Software,Software architecture,Architectural pattern,Vocabulary,Software development,Empirical research
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
14
4
1614-5054
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
8
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Mohamad Kassab1425.92
Manuel Mazzara249364.05
Jooyoung Lee357346.13
Giancarlo Succi4175.48