Indirect Coupling As a Criteria for Modularity

  • Authors:
  • Hong Yul Yang;Ewan Tempero

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Auckland;University of Auckland

  • Venue:
  • ACoM '07 Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Assessment of Contemporary Modularization Techniques
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Assessment of a modularisation technique should involve some form of measurement as to how modular the code becomes as a result of applying the technique. One problem we face is that there is a lack of a precise definition of modularity. The IEEE glossary of software engineering terminology defines modularity as "the degree to which a system or computer program is composed of discrete components such that a change to one component has minimal impact on other components" [1]. While this is not an operational definition, especially as the notion of discreteness, or independence, needs to be further defined, it provides a good starting point for discussion. To measure according to this definition we need to measure "degree of independence". We are interested in a particular form of dependence, namely indirect dependence and believe this is an important criteria for assessing modularity.