Is There Such a Thing as Meta-Architecture?
Louis Marbel, President, Interactive Design Labs, commented[1]: Is there such a thing as “meta-architecture”? This is a simple one – yes! Let me explain. Essentially, an architecture description is a specification of the structure/form for organizing the function of system of interest in order to achieve its intended purpose effectively. The system of interest can be a building, bridge, enterprise, software system, application, enterprise/business data, etc. Now a meta-architecture is a high-order system that operates on an architecture specification as an instance/object, and can validate and/or evaluate the specification to determine consistency and coherence. This view of meta-architecture is consistent with predicate logic and concepts such as meta-types for software type systems, which are also specifications of the behavior of objects. My reply: You say “meta-architecture is a [high-order] system”. But you also say an “architecture [description] is a specification of … structure/form”. “Structure/form” is not the same thing as a “system”. So doesn’t that violate the fundamental meaning of meta- … something that operates on other things of its own kind? I have no doubt that there’s such a thing a meta-system. Should we think of (true) architecture as a system? http://www.brsolutions.com/3b: of a higher logical type – in nouns formed from names of disciplines and designating new but related disciplines such as can deal critically with the nature, structure, or behavior of the original ones *metalanguage* *metatheory* *metasystem*
Tags: meta, meta-architecture, meta-system