To Know the Dependencies is To Understand the Architecture
TS-6037

This session will present a new technique which utilizes inter-module dependencies to represent and manage the architecture of complex software applications. Using these dependencies we build dependency models which provide a precise big picture view of the architecture. These models use a Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) to provide a developer's view of the architecture that is highly scalable compared to the directed graph approaches that are common today.

We will demonstrate this approach by applying it to number of commonly used applications each consisting of hundreds or thousands of classes. We will show how dependency analysis can be used to extract the architecture for applications such as Ant, JUnit, jEdit, Eclipse Platform, and NetBeans Platform. Finally, actual dependency models will be created for multiple generations of an application to highlight how architecture evolves and how it often begins to degrade.

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