Concurrent Software Architectures Research Articles

Concurrent software architectures for exploratory data analysis

Decades ago, increased volume of data made manual analysis obsolete and prompted the use of computational tools with interactive user interfaces and rich palette of data visualizations. Yet their classic, desktop‐based architectures can no longer cope with the ever‐growing size and complexity of data. Next‐generation systems for explorative data analysis will be developed on client–server architectures, which already run concurrent software for data analytics but are not tailored to for an engaged, interactive analysis of data and models. In explorative data analysis, the key is the responsiveness of the system and prompt construction of interactive visualizations that can guide the users to uncover interesting data patterns. In this study, we review the current software architectures for distributed data analysis and propose a list of features to be included in the next generation frameworks for exploratory data analysis. The new generation of tools for explorative data analysis will need to address integrated data storage and processing, fast prototyping of data analysis pipelines supported by machine‐proposed analysis workflows, pre‐emptive analysis of data, interactivity, and user interfaces for intelligent data visualizations. The systems will rely on a mixture of concurrent software architectures to meet the challenge of seamless integration of explorative data interfaces at client site with management of concurrent data mining procedures on the servers. WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2015, 5:165–180. doi: 10.1002/widm.1155This article is categorized under: Application Areas > Data Mining Software Tools Technologies > Computer Architectures for Data Mining

Efficient Reliability Analysis of Concurrent Software Applications Considering Software Architecture

Architecture-based reliability analysis of software applications is gaining prominence as it can provide valuable guidance to software architects during early design phases. Concurrent component execution is common among modern software applications, and hence, reliability analysis considering concurrency within the context of software architecture is essential. Our preliminary analysis approach considering concurrency suffers from state-space explosion; due to which it cannot be applied to practical software applications. This paper proposes solutions to the model specification and solution challenges arising from the state-space explosion problem. The specification challenge is alleviated using the Stochastic Reward Net (SRN) modelling paradigm which can intuitively and concisely represent concurrent software architecture at a higher level of abstraction. The computational challenge is alleviated by aggregating the original state space. Our illustrations show that aggregation introduces only a small inaccuracy into the reliability estimate, and hence, preserves the utility of the original model to produce design guidance via sensitivity analysis.

Graphical modelling language for specifying concurrency based on CSP

A graphical modelling language for specifying concurrency in software designs is presented. The language notations are derived from the communicating sequential process (CSP) language and the resulting designs form CSP diagrams. The notations reflect both data-flow and control-flow aspects of concurrent software architectures. These designs can automatically be described by CSP algebraic expressions that can be used for formal analysis. The designer does not have to be aware of the underlying mathematics. The techniques and rules presented provide guidance to the development of concurrent software architectures. One can detect and reason about compositional conflicts (errors in design), potential deadlocks (errors at run-time), and priority inversion problems (performance burden) at a high level of abstraction. The CSP diagram collaborates with object-oriented modelling languages and structured methods.