Ontology-based architectural knowledge representation: Structural elements module

Abstract

In the last years, Architectural Knowledge (AK) has emerged as a discipline for making explicit architects' knowledge and architectural decision-making processes. As a consolidated formalism for the representation of conceptual knowledge, ontologies have already been proposed for AK representation. Aligning with this trend, we are currently developing an ontology for AK representation named Arteon. The ontology is articulated in four modules and in this paper we focus on one of them, the structural module, that defines the elements necessary to build a software architecture. Therefore, we clarify the concepts of architectural view, framework and element, show their relationships, its accurate definition is required to drive architectural design in a prescribed way. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.