Cohesion
/koʊˈhiːʒən/co·he·sionnoun
Definition
1.[in software design] the degree to which the parts of a single module all serve one purpose, rather than being grouped together for incidental reasons.
The utilities file had no cohesion — six unrelated jobs sharing one namespace.
Etymology
From Latin cohaerere 'to stick together'. Adopted as a design metric alongside coupling by Stevens, Myers and Constantine in 1974, where it was ranked on a scale from coincidental to functional.
Synonyms
- single responsibilitysense 1 · Near
Antonyms
- couplingsense 1 · Relational
See also
References
- Stevens, W., Myers, G. & Constantine, L. (1974). Structured Design.IBM Systems Journal, 13(2), 115–139.