Asst.Prof. Sunitha E.

V
Department of Information Technology
TIST
 In
technical terms, modules
should display:
◦ High cohesion
◦ Low coupling.
 We shall next discuss:
◦ cohesion and coupling.
 Cohesion is a measure of:
◦ functional strength of a module.
◦ A cohesive module performs a
single task or function.
 Coupling between two modules:
◦ A measure of the degree of the
interdependence or interaction
between the two modules.
Amodule having high
cohesion and low coupling:
◦ functionally independent of
other modules:
 A functionally independent
module has minimal interaction
with other modules.
 Better understandability and
good design:
 Complexity of design is reduced,

 Different modules easily

understood in isolation:
◦ Modules are independent
 Functional independence reduces
error propagation.
◦ Degree of interaction between
modules is low.
◦ An error existing in one module does
not directly affect other modules.
 Reuse of modules is possible.
 A functionally independent module:
◦ Can be easily taken out and reused in
a different program.
 Each module does some well-defined
and precise function
 The interfaces of a module with other
modules is simple and minimal.
 Unfortunately, there are no ways:
◦ To quantitatively measure the
degree of cohesion and coupling.
◦ Classification of different kinds of
cohesion and coupling:
 Can give us some idea regarding
the degree of cohesiveness of a
module.
 Classification is often subjective:
◦ Yet gives us some idea about
cohesiveness of a module.
 By examining the type of
cohesion exhibited by a module:
◦ We can roughly tell whether it
displays high cohesion or low
cohesion.
 functional
sequential
communicational Degree of
procedural cohesion

temporal
logical
coincidental
 The module performs a set of tasks:
◦ Which relate to each other very
loosely, if at all.
 The module contains a random
collection of functions.
 Functions have been put in the module
out of pure coincidence without any
thought or design.
 All elements of the module
perform similar operations:
◦ e.g. error handling, data input,
data output, etc.
 An example of logical cohesion:
◦ A set of print functions to
generate an output report
arranged into a single module.
 The module contains tasks that are
related by the fact:
◦ All the tasks must be executed in the
same time span.
 Example:
◦ The set of functions responsible for
 initialization,
 start-up, shut-down of some process,
etc.
 The set of functions of the module:
◦ All part of a procedure (algorithm)
◦ Certain sequence of steps have to be
carried out in a certain order for
achieving an objective,
 e.g. the algorithm for decoding a message.
 All functions of the module:
◦ Reference or update the same data
structure,
 Example:
◦ The set of functions defined on an
array or a stack.
 Elements of a module form
different parts of a sequence,
◦ Output from one element of the
sequence is input to the next.
◦ Example:
sort

search

display
 Different elements of a module
cooperate:
◦ To achieve a single function,
◦ e.g. managing an employee's pay-roll.
 When a module displays functional
cohesion,
◦ We can describe the function using a
single sentence.
 Write down a sentence to describe
the function of the module
◦ If the sentence is compound,
 It has a sequential or communicational
cohesion.
◦ If it has words like “first”, “next”,
“after”, “then”, etc.
 It has sequential or temporal cohesion.
◦ If it has words like initialize,
 It probably has temporal cohesion.
 Coupling indicates:
◦ How closely two modules
interact or how interdependent
they are.
◦ The degree of coupling
between two modules depends
on their interface complexity.
 There are no ways to precisely
determine coupling between two
modules:
◦ Classification of different types of
coupling will help us to approximately
estimate the degree of coupling between
two modules.
 Five types of coupling can exist
between any two modules.
data
stamp
control Degree of
coupling
common
content
 Two modules are data coupled,
◦ If they communicate via a parameter:
 an elementary data item,
 e.g an integer, a float, a character,
etc.

◦ The data item should be problem

related:
 Not used for control purpose.
 Twomodules are stamp
coupled,
◦If they communicate via a
composite data item
 such as a record in PASCAL
 or a structure in C.
 Datafrom one module is
used to direct:
◦ Order of instruction execution
in another.
 Example of control coupling:
◦ A flag set in one module and
tested in another module.
 Twomodules are common
coupled,
◦ If they share some global data.
 Content coupling exists between
two modules:
◦ If they share code,
◦ e.g, branching from one module into
another module.
 The degree of coupling increases
◦ from data coupling to content
coupling.