Reconciling the 3-layer architectural style with the eclipse plug-in-based architecture

Abstract

Software architecture construction is the result of a complex decision-making process, in which competing alternatives need to be compared. For example, deciding between a web-based application or a plug-in-based application has a signi cant impact on the architecture, therefore in order to make the right choice all possible tradeo s between them must be considered. Decisions need to be made in all architectural views, from the logical view in which architectural styles are chosen, to the development view in which types of modules are decided, to the deployment view where physical allocation is determined. In this paper we analyze the interactions between a 3-layer architecture at the logical view, and a plug-in-based development view implemented in Eclipse, focusing on the diffculties we overcome in a research project in order to make it work.