Description

  • Apply [arc42] views
  • Apply Static Code Analysis
  • Interview technical stakeholders
  • Start either from the
    • business context, mainly the external business interfaces
    • technical context, the involved hardware and network structure
    • known technology areas, i.e. products, programming languages or frameworks used

Three main views (building block, runtime and deployment view)

Applicability

Use view-based-understanding when:

  • System has a medium to large codebase
  • Structural understanding of the code is limited: only few stakeholders can explain and reason about the code structure
  • Documentation of the code structure is not existing, outdated or wrong
  • Long-term maintenance and evolution of the system is required

Consequences

  • Explicit overview of the system context with the external interfaces.
  • Overview of the larger units of source-code (subsystems, high-level components) and their relationships.

Also Known As

  • building block view (formerly known as logical view)
  • high-level overview

References