设计:了解模块，模块之间的关系，每个模块的功能，类及其成员函数，每个模块之间通信的接口。

体系结构:体系结构是软件系统的整个结构。所有模块、类和组件执行不同的任务，并将给出唯一的结果。

例如:有一个有5个房间的房子。还有附属浴室。厨房也在家里。所以家里有不同的东西这些东西之间有不同的关系。所以这一切都是关于一个家的“设计”。

而当你从房子外面看的时候，你看到的整个结构都是关于建筑的。

建筑就是设计，但并非所有的设计都是建筑。因此，严格地说，尝试区分架构设计和非架构设计会更有意义。有什么区别呢?视情况而定!每个软件架构师可能有不同的答案(ymmv!)我们开发我们的启发式来提出一个答案，例如“类图是架构，序列图是设计”。有关更多信息，请参阅DSA书籍。

人们常说，架构比设计处于更高的抽象级别，或者架构是逻辑的，而设计是物理的。但这种观念虽然被普遍接受，但在实践中却毫无用处。在高抽象和低抽象之间，逻辑和物理之间，你的界线在哪里?视情况而定!

所以，我的建议是:

create a single design document. name this design document the way you want or, better, the way the readers are more accustomed to. Examples: "Software Architecture", "Software Design Specification". break this document into views and keep in mind you can create a view as a refinement of another view. make the views in the document navigable by adding cross-references or hyperlinks then you'll have higher level views showing broad but shallow overview of the design, and closer-to-implementation views showing narrow but deeper design details. you may want to take a look at an example of multi-view architecture document (here).

说了这么多……我们需要问的一个更相关的问题是:多少设计才足够?也就是说，我什么时候应该停止描述设计(用图表或散文)，而应该转向编码?

你说得对，是的。系统的架构是它的“骨架”。它是系统抽象的最高层次。有什么样的数据存储，模块之间如何交互，有什么样的恢复系统。就像设计模式一样，也有架构模式:MVC、3层分层设计等。

软件设计就是设计各个模块/组件。模块x的职责和功能是什么?Y类?它能做什么，不能做什么?可以使用哪些设计模式?

所以简而言之，软件架构更多的是整个系统的设计，而软件设计则强调模块/组件/类的层面。

...long time ago in a faraway place philosophers worried about the distinction between the one and the many. Architecture is about relationship, which requires the many. Architecture has components. Design is about content, which requires the one. Design has properties, qualities, characteristics. We typically think that design is within architecture. Dualistic thinking gives the many as primordial. But architecture is also within design. It's all how we choose to view what is before us - the one or the many.

Good question... Although the line between them is hardly a bright sharp line, imho, if you are using both terms, then Architecture encompasses more technical or structural decisions about how to build or construct something, especially those decisions that will be hard (or harder) to change once implemeneted, whereas Design encompasses those decisions that either are easy to change later (like method names, class <-> file organizational structure, design patterns, whether to use a singleton or a static class to solve some specific problem, etc. ) and/or those that effect the appearance or esthetic aspects of a system or application (Human Interface, ease of use, look and feel, etc.)

另外，请参考: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%2B1_Architectural_View_Model