4.1 Functionality and Architecture

Functionality and quality attributes are orthogonal. This statement sounds rather bold at first, but when you think about it you realize that it cannot be otherwise. If functionality and quality attributes were not orthogonal, the choice of function would dictate the level of security or performance or availability or usability. Clearly though, it is possible to independently choose a desired level of each. Now, this is not to say that any level of any quality attribute is achievable with any function. Manipulating complex graphical images or sorting an enormous database might be inherently complex, making lightning-fast performance impossible. But what is possible is that, for any of these functions your choices as an architect will determine the relative level of quality. Some architectural choices will lead to higher performance; some will lead in the other direction. Given this understanding, the purpose of this chapter is, as with a good architecture, to separate concerns. We will examine each important quality attribute in turn and learn how to think about it in a disciplined way.

What is functionality? It is the ability of the system to do the work for which it was intended. A task requires that many or most of the system's elements work in a coordinated manner to complete the job, just as framers, electricians, plumbers, drywall hangers, painters, and finish carpenters all come together to cooperatively build a house. Therefore, if the elements have not been assigned the correct responsibilities or have not been endowed with the correct facilities for coordinating with other elements (so that, for instance, they know when it is time for them to begin their portion of the task), the system will be unable to offer the required functionality.

Functionality may be achieved through the use of any of a number of possible structures. In fact, if functionality were the only requirement, the system could exist as a single monolithic module with no internal structure at all. Instead, it is decomposed into modules to make it understandable and to support a variety of other purposes. In this way, functionality is largely independent of structure. Software architecture constrains its allocation to structure when other quality attributes are important. For example, systems are frequently divided so that several people can cooperatively build them (which is, among other things, a time-to-market issue, though seldom stated this way). The interest of functionality is how it interacts with, and constrains, those other qualities.