General talk about software patterns

["Kencho san" <kenchoweb AT hotmail.com>]

Hi

I also understand micro-architectures as actual implemented solutions. Maybe 
the confusion you're talking about regarding to the GoF paper is because 
some patterns could be implemented as actual micro-architectures (for 
instance, you can think of a very simple application, where a Singleton 
itself is a micro-architecture). I don't find a way to explain this 
correctly...
My understanding is that the design and/or architectural patterns are 
referred to the software design, while the micro-architectures aim to actual 
implementations to those designs, giving a stand-alone solution to a problem 
(they're a solution to a certain problem, but mostly independent of the 
context).

So patterns are generic solutions to specific (single) design problems, and 
micro-architectures deal with the overall application or module, aiming to 
the actual implementation.

Just my thoughts (I'm kind of a software engineer novice...) Hope that 
helps,

Jesús Alonso Abad

> G'Day,
>
> I've been debating with a few people what the difference is between 
> patterns and micro-architectures and I'd appreciate some opinions from 
> people here.
>
> My understanding is that patterns are abstractions, whereas 
> micro-architectures are actual implementations - collections of interacting 
> objects that solve some problem.
>
> So, micro-architectures can realise some patten or collection of patterns. 
> Therefore, it should be possible to 'point to' a micro-architecture in some 
> implemented system or UML model and say "that micro-architecture is playing 
> the role 'blah' in the pattern 'blah'". Indeed, some research groups are 
> working on tools to do just that. E.g.,
> www.yann-gael.gueheneuc.net/ Work/Publications/Documents/WCRE04.ppt.pdf
>
> However because some patterns are very close to the class level (e.g., the 
> GoFs), it is easy to get confused between what a pattern is and what a 
> micro-architecture is. Indeed in the original GoF paper, that actual makes 
> that confusion:
> "Design patterns act as building blocks for constructing more complex 
> designs; they can be considered micro-architectures that contribute to 
> overall system architecture."
> *Design Patterns: Abstraction and Reuse of Object-Oriented Design (1993)*
> Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides. 
> http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/gamma93design.html
>
> Is there some other way of seeing the relationship between patterns and 
> micro-architectures?
>
> thanks,
>
> Jason
>
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