Non-Functional Attributes Modeling in Software Architecture

Non-functional attributes, such as security, reliability, and maintainability in software architecture, typically can not be encapsulated with traditional objects and components, but AOP can. However, AOP is not mature enough to realize the reuse of aspect. In view of this, AOP is introduced to the architecture, and a new entity, aspect connector, is put forward to model the non-functional attributes. Furthermore, a new ADL is used to describe the aspect connector. Finally, a case of book management system is used to explain the method. The results show that the aspect connector not only model the non-functional attributes, but also reduce the complexity of the system and increase software's reusability and maintainability.