On the Modularity of Software Architectures: A Concern-Driven Measurement Framework

Much of the complexity of software architecture design is derived from the inadequate modularization of key broadly-scoped concerns, such as exception handling, distribution, and persistence. However, conventional architecture metrics are not sensitive to the driving architectural concerns, thereby leading a number of false positives and false negatives in the design assessment process. Therefore, there is a need for assessment techniques that support a more effective identification of early design modularity anomalies relative to crosscutting concerns. In this context, this paper proposes a concern-driven measurement framework for assessing architecture modularity. It encompasses a mechanism for documenting architectural concerns, and a suite of concern-oriented architecture metrics. We evaluated the usefulness of the proposed framework while comparing the modularity of architecture design alternatives in three different case studies.