Version 4 separates software architecture from software design because interest in the discipline and the body of practice have grown markedly since the 1990s. The Guide discusses concepts, representation and work products, context, process and methods, and analysis and evaluation.[1]
The Guide uses "architecture" in at least three senses: a discipline of constructing software-intensive systems; the processes that carry out that discipline; and the outcome of applying those processes to a particular system. The outcome is recorded in an architecture description. As stages of design, architectural design precedes high-level design and detailed design; the latter two are discussed in the Software Design knowledge area.[1]
The Guide's top-level topics for this knowledge area are:
- Software Architecture Fundamentals
- Software Architecture Description
- Software Architecture Process
- Software Architecture Evaluation