Software architecture: introducing IEEE Standard 1471

IEEE Standard 1471 identifies sound practices to establish a framework and vocabulary for software architecture concepts.In 2000, the Computer Society approved IEEE Standard 1471, which documents a consensus on good architectural description practices. Five core concepts and relationships provide the foundation for the approved IEEE 1471 version: every system has an architecture, but an architecture is not a system; an architecture and an architecture description are not the same thing; architecture standards, descriptions, and development processes can differ and be developed separately; architecture descriptions are inherently multiviewed; and separating the concept of an object's view from its specification is an effective way to write architecture description standards. IEEE 1471 focuses on both software intensive systems and more general systems, such as information systems, embedded systems, systems-of-systems, product lines, and product families in which software plays a substantial role in development, operation, or evolution.