Using systematic mapping to explore software architecture knowledge

Software architectures have played a significant role in determining the success of software systems. In this perspective, a lot of work have been conducted and considerable knowledge in the software architecture area has been accumulated. In another perspective, systematic mapping is a technique that provides an overview of a research area to assess the quantity of evidence existing on a topic of interest. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to introduce systematic mapping in order to explore, understand, organize and summarize software architecture knowledge, aiming at contributing to software architecture area. A simple example of use of this technique is presented and results point out to its viability also in the software architecture research area.