Editing Software architecture (section)

==Scope==
Opinions vary as to the scope of software architectures:<ref>{{cite web|author=SEI|title= How do you define Software Architecture?|url= http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/start/glossary/definition-form.cfm |year=2006|access-date=2012-09-12}}</ref>
* '''Macroscopic system structure''': this refers to architecture as a higher-level [[Abstraction (computer science)|abstraction]] of a software system that consists of a collection of computational ''components'' together with ''connectors'' that describe the interaction between these components.<ref>{{cite web|author=Garlan & Shaw |title= An Introduction to Software Architecture |url= https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/able/ftp/intro_softarch/intro_softarch.pdf |year=1994|access-date=2012-09-13}}</ref>
* '''The important stuff—whatever that is''': this refers to the fact that software architects should concern themselves with those decisions that have high impact on the system and its stakeholders.<ref name="FOWL2003">{{Cite journal | last1 = Fowler | first1 = Martin | title = Design – Who needs an architect? | doi = 10.1109/MS.2003.1231144 | journal = IEEE Software | volume = 20 | issue = 5 | pages = 11–44 | year = 2003 | s2cid = 356506 }}</ref>
* '''That which is fundamental to understanding a system in its environment'''<ref>[http://www.iso-architecture.org/42010/defining-architecture.html ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010: Defining "architecture"]. Iso-architecture.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.</ref>
* '''Things that people perceive as hard to change''': since designing the architecture takes place at the beginning of a software system's lifecycle, the architect should focus on decisions that "have to" be right the first time. Following this line of thought, architectural design issues may become non-architectural once their irreversibility can be overcome.<ref name="FOWL2003"/>
* '''A set of [[Architectural decision|architectural design decisions]]''': software architecture should not be considered merely a set of models or structures, but should include the decisions that lead to these particular structures, and the rationale behind them.<ref name="jansen05" /> This insight has led to substantial research into software architecture [[knowledge management]].<ref name="AKM">{{cite book |title=Software Architecture Knowledge Management |last1=Ali Babar |first1=Muhammad|last2=Dingsoyr|first2=Torgeir|last3=Lago|first3=Patricia|last4=van Vliet|first4=Hans|year=2009 |publisher=Springer|location=Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York |isbn=978-3-642-02373-6}}</ref>

There is no sharp distinction between software architecture versus design and requirements engineering (see [[#Related fields|Related fields]] below). They are all part of a "chain of intentionality" from high-level intentions to low-level details.<ref name="FAIRBANKS2010">{{cite book|author=George Fairbanks|title=Just Enough Software Architecture|year=2010|publisher=Marshall & Brainerd}}</ref>{{rp|18}}