Technology searches for unwanted dependencies Lattix is extending its software architecture management product, which examines architectural dependencies, to .Net projects.Developers and architects involved in Microsoft .Net-based software projects now can avail themselves to Lattix’s Lightweight Dependency Models (LDM) technology for controlling projects, with Lattix LDM for .Net. The product allows for visualizing and controlling of a software architecture to prevent dependencies from arising that should not exist, such as the implementation of a framework that depends on the business layer.Previously available for Java developers, the technology uses a dependency structure matrix to provide a representation of a system. “As people implement [an architecture] in code, they start connecting things together that they shouldn’t be connecting together,” said Frank Waldman, vice president of sales at Lattix.With Lattix LDM for .Net, an architecture is mapped to actual code; developers can go from a “big picture” perspective to specific details. Refactoring removes unwanted dependencies and renames subsystems so code organization reflects an intended architecture. Architects and developers can analyze an architecture in detail, edit the structure to create what-if scenarios and specify design rules to formalize an architecture to an entire development organization.“This is something that the folks in the .Net community have not had a way to do,” said Waldman. Prior approaches to architecture management for .Net have involved Unified Modeling Language (UML) models using boxes and arrows or the use of PowerPoint diagrams, Waldman said. A Visual Studio developer, for example, would load a build in Lattix LDM and then see violations of rules and new dependencies created since the last build.The product is available now in three editions, including a $495 Professional Edition, for projects with fewer than 1,000 classes or files, and the $2,995 Enterprise Edition, for projects with an unlimited number of classes and files. These two editions allow for publishing of rules. A $395 View Edition examines rules without offering the capability to publish them. Software Development