CPSA CPSA Integration and Interfaces Questions and Answers

Question 1

In software architecture, what is the primary purpose of defining explicit interfaces between components?

Accepted Answer

To decouple components so they can evolve independently without breaking each other

Answer

To increase the number of classes in the system

Answer

To ensure all components are written in the same programming language

Answer

To make the system easier to test by limiting the number of modules

Question 2

What distinguishes synchronous integration from asynchronous integration between software components?

Accepted Answer

Synchronous integration requires the caller to wait for a response, while asynchronous integration allows the caller to continue processing

Answer

Synchronous integration is always faster than asynchronous integration

Answer

Asynchronous integration requires both systems to be online simultaneously

Answer

Synchronous integration is only used for batch processing systems

Question 3

Which integration style uses a central hub to route messages between multiple systems?

Accepted Answer

Message broker / hub-and-spoke integration

Answer

Point-to-point integration

Answer

Shared database integration

Answer

File transfer integration

Question 4

What is 'interface bloat' and why is it considered an architectural problem?

Accepted Answer

Adding too many methods to an interface, making it harder to implement and increasing coupling

Answer

Having too few interfaces in a large system

Answer

Using interfaces only in statically typed languages

Answer

Creating interfaces that are too short to be useful

Question 5

In enterprise integration patterns, what is a 'canonical data model'?

Accepted Answer

A shared data format that all integrated systems use to avoid point-to-point format translations

Answer

The database schema used by the primary application

Answer

A UML class diagram of the domain model

Answer

The XML schema for REST API responses

Question 6

What is the key architectural risk of 'shared database' integration between multiple systems?

Accepted Answer

It creates tight coupling at the data layer, making independent evolution and deployment of systems difficult

Answer

It requires all systems to be written in the same programming language

Answer

It increases network latency for all database queries

Answer

It prevents the use of caching in any of the integrated systems