Table of Contents
What Distinguishes System Architecture from Module Design Stages?
Architectural design defines overall system structure and components, while detailed design specifies individual modules’ internals, ensuring scalable software engineering progression.
Question
Differentiate between architectural design and detailed design in software engineering. What primarily distinguishes these two stages?
A. Architectural design focuses on the overall system structure, while detailed design deals with individual module specifications.
B. Architectural design is concerned with coding practices, while detailed design focuses on user experience.
C. Architectural design selects the development tools, while detailed design chooses the programming language.
D. Architectural design is more important than detailed design in project success.
Answer
A. Architectural design focuses on the overall system structure, while detailed design deals with individual module specifications.
Explanation
Architectural design establishes the high-level blueprint of the system, defining major components, their interactions, deployment topology, and non-functional properties like scalability and security to satisfy requirements and manage complexity across the entire application. Detailed design then refines this into module-level specifications, including algorithms, data structures, interfaces, and internal logic for each component, enabling developers to implement without ambiguity while maintaining traceability to the architecture. This hierarchical progression—macro structure first, micro implementation second—prevents premature optimization, ensures cohesion, and aligns with SDLC phases where architecture constrains design without overlapping into coding practices (B), tool selection (C), or subjective importance claims (D).