From early architectural decisions to self-discovery components

For software architects, selecting components is not a black box process; besides knowing how well a component performs some required tasks, they also need to understand how these tasks are performed, i.e. they are concerned with the design. This is an expensive and hard task since architects must evaluate and compare large set of available alternative components using ad-hoc information. This article proposes an automated technique that supports architects in generating component assemblies given a set of architectural requirements, by using a component market analogy built on the Azimut framework. The approach is illustrated with a case study. The main article contribution is to allow architects not only to generate potential solutions based on requirements ("what"), but also based on early design restrictions ("how").