Semi-automatic architectural pattern identification and documentation using architectural primitives

•Documentation of architectural patterns based on architectural primitives.•DSL-based documentation of pattern instances.•DSL-based pattern catalog.•Supports traceability between all artifacts.

In this article, we propose an interactive approach for the semi-automatic identification and documentation of architectural patterns based on a domain-specific language. To address the rich concepts and variations of patterns, we firstly propose to support pattern description through architectural primitives. These are primitive abstractions at the architectural level that can be found in realizations of multiple patterns, and they can be leveraged by software architects for pattern annotation during software architecture documentation or reconstruction. Secondly, using these annotations, our approach automatically suggests possible pattern instances based on a reusable catalog of patterns and their variants. Once a pattern instance has been documented, the annotated component models and the source code get automatically checked for consistency and traceability links are automatically generated. To study the practical applicability and performance of our approach, we have conducted three case studies for existing, non-trivial open source systems.