Coupling and Cohesion
Coupling and Cohesion
Coupling and Cohesion
Introduction: The purpose of Design phase in the Software Development Life Cycle is to produce a
solution to a problem given in the SRS(Software Requirement Specification) document. The ou
Basically, design is a two-part iterative process. First part is Conceptual Design that tells the customer
what the system will do. Second is Technical Design that allows the system builders to understand the
actual hardware and software needed to solve customer’s problem.
It is independent of implementation.
Software architecture
Network architecture
Shows interface.
Modularization: Modularization is the process of dividing a software system into multiple independent
modules where each module works independently. There are many advantages of Modularization in
software engineering. Some of these are given below:
A module can be used many times as their requirements. No need to write it again and again.
Coupling: Coupling is the measure of the degree of interdependence between the modules. A good
software will have low coupling.
Coupling: Coupling is the measure of the degree of interdependence between the modules. A good
software will have low coupling.
Types of Coupling:
Data Coupling: If the dependency between the modules is based on the fact that they communicate by
passing only data, then the modules are said to be data coupled. In data coupling, the components are
independent to each other and communicating through data. Module communications don’t contain
tramp data. Example-customer billing system.
Stamp Coupling In stamp coupling, the complete data structure is passed from one module to another
module. Therefore, it involves tramp data. It may be necessary due to efficiency factors- this choice
made by the insightful designer, not a lazy programmer.
Control Coupling: If the modules communicate by passing control information, then they are said to be
control coupled. It can be bad if parameters indicate completely different behavior and good if
parameters allow factoring and reuse of functionality. Example- sort function that takes comparison
function as an argument.
External Coupling: In external coupling, the modules depend on other modules, external to the software
being developed or to a particular type of hardware. Ex- protocol, external file, device format, etc.
Common Coupling: The modules have shared data such as global data structures.The changes in global
data mean tracing back to all modules which access that data to evaluate the effect of the change. So it
has got disadvantages like difficulty in reusing modules, reduced ability to control data accesses and
reduced maintainability.
Content Coupling: In a content coupling, one module can modify the data of another module or control
flow is passed from one module to the other module. This is the worst form of coupling and should be
avoided.
Cohesion: Cohesion is a measure of the degree to which the elements of the module are functionally
related. It is the degree to which all elements directed towards performing a single task are contained in
the component. Basically, cohesion is the internal glue that keeps the module together. A good software
design will have high cohesion.
Types of Cohesion:
Functional Cohesion: Every essential element for a single computation is contained in the component. A
functional cohesion performs the task and functions. It is an ideal situation.
Sequential Cohesion: An element outputs some data that becomes the input for other element, i.e.,
data flow between the parts. It occurs naturally in functional programming languages.
Communicational Cohesion: Two elements operate on the same input data or contribute towards the
same output data. Example- update record int the database and send it to the printer.
Procedural Cohesion: Elements of procedural cohesion ensure the order of execution. Actions are still
weakly connected and unlikely to be reusable. Ex- calculate student GPA, print student record, calculate
cumulative GPA, print cumulative GPA.
Temporal Cohesion: The elements are related by their timing involved. A module connected with
temporal cohesion all the tasks must be executed in the same time-span. This cohesion contains the
code for initializing all the parts of the system. Lots of different activities occur, all at init time.
Logical Cohesion: The elements are logically related and not functionally. Ex- A component reads inputs
from tape, disk, and network. All the code for these functions is in the same component. Operations are
related, but the functions are significantly different.
Coincidental Cohesion: The elements are not related(unrelated). The elements have no conceptual
relationship other than location in source code. It is accidental and the worst form of cohesion. Ex- print
next line and reverse the characters of a string in a single component.