ARCHITECTURE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGES (adlS) ARE EMERGING AS VIABLE TOOLS FOR FORMALLY REPRESENTING THE ARCHITECTURES OF SYSTEMS. SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURES SHIFT THE FOCUS OF DEVELOPERS FROM LINES-OF-CODE TO COARSER-GRAINED ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS AND THEIR OVERALL INTERCONNECTION STRUCTURE. ARCHITECTURE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGES (adlS) HAVE BEEN PROPOSED AS MODELLING NOTATIONS TO SUPPORT ARCHITECTURE-BASED DEVELOPMENT. IN THIS PAPER WE ANALYSE adlS AND CLASSIFY KIND OF THE adlS THAT HAVE BEEN PROPOSED RECENTLY. PRELIMINARY RESULTS ALLOW US TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUTES AN adl, AND HOW CONTEMPORARY adlS DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER AND WILL TRY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE TO INTRODUCE VISUAL STUDIO ANY LANGUAGE.