Sequences of Architectures from Abstract to Details

The architecture of a software system consists of different artifacts with hierarchy and other dependency relations between them. This architecture is developed in stages. It starts with an abstract and conceptual form and ends with a concrete form with many details, describing various technical topics of the shipped system. This chapter deals with the specific question, how these stages of the architecture have to be organized. What is the order of these architectures and what are the relations between them? The order is connected to the methodology of the design process, to the properties of the resulting design (e.g. adaptability), and also the type of system to be developed. The underlying architectural language should be able to express these relations. Two examples are discussed, one from business administration and one from embedded systems