Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon

Quality Attribute Design Primitives

Len Bass
Mark Klein
Felix Bachmann

Technical Note
CMU/SEI-2000-TN-017

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This report focuses on the quality attribute aspects of architectural mechanisms. An architectural mechanism is "a structure whereby objects collaborate to provide some behavior that satisfies a requirement of the problem." This report addresses mechanisms that significantly affect quality attribute behavior and have sufficient content for analysis. Codifying such mechanisms will enable architects to identify the choices necessary to achieve quality attribute goals. This, in turn, will set a foundation for further software architectural design and analysis.