Tailoring software architecture concepts and process for mobile application development

Abstract

Enabled by the continuous improvement of the hardware and software in mobile devices, mobile applications have evolved into very complex pieces of software. Yet, such increase in complexity hasn't been paired by an increased awareness, among developers, of the important role that some software engineering processes play in managing such complexity. In this paper we focus on the architectural design of mobile applications: we show how this aspect is still overlooked by mobile app developers; we present a high level process and several concepts that aim to guide developers in the creation of suitable architectures for their apps; and we describe the advantages of integrating architectural thinking within the mobile app development process.