Abstract

A formal framework for reasoning about architectural properties of software systems is presented. The systems of interest are represented as hierarchies of interconnected components. The main concept introduced is that of a module whose single most important attribute is its architecture, defined by means of an interface and a description of the module 's internal configuration in terms of components and connections between them. The components are themselves instances of other modules. In this context, a central notion of is that of two systems being architecturally equivalent. It is also discussed how architectural refinement and extension can be formalized. A link with behavioral theories is established by introducing a notion of functional equivalence derived from architectural properties. ## Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Concepts 4 2.1 Static Modules .................................. 4 2.2 Interface of a Module ............................... 5 2.3 Designation of a Module ........

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