DataClass

Concept: Coupling

Abstract

Any time two classes are related in such a way that one depends on another for something, they are coupled. Coupling is what allows systems to work: rarely can anything interesting rightly be defined as a single class. The quality can be evaluated based on a number of criteria including strength and intent.

Body

If an object of one class might use an instance of another class, the user is said to be coupled to the used. The ability to do this is what allows modern software developers to do their jobs - individual objects are not nearly as interesting as groups of objects working together to solve a problem.

Coupling can be evaluated based on its strength:

• Strong coupling
• Weak coupling

Coupling can also be judged by how purposeful it appears to be:

• Intentional coupling
• Accidental coupling

Related Use Cases

• Specifying design separately from construction
• Eliminating duplication between client and database code
• Keeping clients coupled to the current version
• Leveraging a version's proxy in a client

Related Concepts

• Strong coupling
• Weak coupling
• Intentional coupling
• Accidental coupling

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