Software Engineering - Difference between software architectures

Author

Difference between software architectures

carmen

2006-01-28, 9:57 pm

Hello everyone,

I have been thinking abt it for a while. What would you say is the
difference between a Client-Server architecture vs a
distributed/collaborative architecture vs a service-oriented
architecture?

Thanks, C

Cristo

2006-01-29, 6:59 pm

I would say completely different worlds on a similar topic: Software
Architecture.
Cheers, Cristo

carmen

2006-01-29, 6:59 pm

Could you elaborate a little bit more plz... I am new to software
architecture, so I am trying to form a clear picture in my mind.

annappa

2006-01-30, 8:00 am

Hi Carmen
In brief as per my understanding,

Client server becomes a centralised and some what closed architecture
where as other two are distributive in nature and more open
architecture
Cheers
Anp

carmen wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I have been thinking abt it for a while. What would you say is the
> difference between a Client-Server architecture vs a
> distributed/collaborative architecture vs a service-oriented
> architecture?
>
> Thanks, C

carhar

2006-01-30, 8:00 am

When describing software architecture models, one notes there are
differences in control flows, data flows, and software component
organization, which can be related but not necessarily. One could write
a massive monolithic program to do most anything that it will run on.

Shaw and Garlan (Carnegie Mellon U) have written excellent papers on
the topic. Some of the various software architectures they write about
are: batch sequential, pipe and filter, command and control, control
loop, blackboard, and database. Each has its own set of properties such
as latency, scalability, extensibility, etc.

These are mature ENOUGH to be a part of the body of knowledge for what
should be extant now: sofwtare engineering.

My $.02 says we have ENOUGH science to start formulating the discipline
of software engineering, else we wait until everything is known, which
never happens. For instance we understand how to measure complexity
(cyclomatic, combinatorial explosion of cases, etc), we understand
good and bad modularization and coupling and binding, and we understand
how to apply sampling techniques during testing and use Markhov chain
analysis to be able to make quantitative statement about software
quality with respect to the known cases and sampling thereof.

carhar

carmen wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I have been thinking abt it for a while. What would you say is the
> difference between a Client-Server architecture vs a
> distributed/collaborative architecture vs a service-oriented
> architecture?
>
> Thanks, C

H. S. Lahman

2006-01-30, 7:01 pm

Responding to Carmen wrote:

> I have been thinking abt it for a while. What would you say is the
> difference between a Client-Server architecture vs a
> distributed/collaborative architecture vs a service-oriented
> architecture?

It's mostly about who the participants are and how many there are.

Client/Server is probably the superset notion. It refers to any
situation where central resources support multiple users. Back in the
'50s and '60s the term was usually applied to device drivers and OS
system services that were shared by multiple applications. Today the
term has been somewhat co-opted to refer to the rather specialized
situation where the server is a DBMS and the clients are applications
elsewhere on the network. Essentially there is a *:1 relationship
between application clients and the server.

Distributed/collaborative is just another way of saying distributed
applications are interoperable. That is, collaborating applications can
take turns being client and server. Essentially there is a *:*
relationship between applications.

Service-oriented just refers to a suite of functionalities that can be
accessed by multiple application client. The difference compared to
client/server is essentially that the services may be distributed as
well as the applications. Essentially there is a *:* relationship
between applications and generic services.

*************
There is nothing wrong with me that could
not be cured by a capful of Drano.

H. S. Lahman
hsl@pathfindermda.com
Pathfinder Solutions -- Put MDA to Work
http://www.pathfindermda.com
blog: http://pathfinderpeople.blogs.com/hslahman
(888)OOA-PATH

Jose Jr Rojas

2006-01-30, 7:01 pm

ugh
"carmen" <vesper_carmen@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1138502189.609219.194040@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> I have been thinking abt it for a while. What would you say is the
> difference between a Client-Server architecture vs a
> distributed/collaborative architecture vs a service-oriented
> architecture?
>
> Thanks, C
>

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