Separation of Concerns: a Web Application Architecture Framework
Authors
Xiaoying Kong
Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 123 Broadway Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Li Liu
Project Management Graduate Programme, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
David Lowe
Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 123 Broadway Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Abstract
Architecture frameworks have been extensively developed and described within the literature. These frameworks typically support and guide organisations during system planning, design, building, deployment and maintenance. Their main pupose is to provide clarity to the different modelling perspectives, abstractions, and domains of consideration within system development. In dpoing so they allow improved clarity with regard to the connections between the different models, and the selection of models tht are most likely to capture salient features of the system. In this paper we present an Architectural Framework which takes into account the specific characteristics of web systems. The framework is based around a two dimensional matrix. One dimension separates the concerns of different participants of the web system into perspectives. The second dimension classifies each perspective into development abstractions: structure (what), behaviour (how), location (where) and pattern. The framework is illustrated through examples from the development of a commercial web application.
