An Abstract Approach to Coupling Evaluation

Coupling, as a dimension of modularity, is of great importance to software maintainability and reuse. These are ever present concerns when it comes to design and maintenance activities, and also when new paradigms, from which AOP can be a good example, must be evaluated. The most prominent proposed frameworks for coupling measurement are highly focused on the coupling mechanisms from the paradigm to which they are developed for, instead of being focused at the phenomenon itself. This approach restricts the use of these frameworks to each paradigm, different paradigms can not be compared because different mechanisms can not be compared and comparing only the common mechanisms from different paradigms is comparing only part of the coupling and as such inconclusive, and still, the phenomenon understanding remains vague, otherwise, with the existing knowledge, we would be able to clearly say how to improve it, regardless of paradigm or language. Also, coupling is a phenomenon present at every development phase (high/low level design, implementation, etc) and system state (static or dynamic), and as such, its evaluation must always be possible, contrary to the specifics of current frameworks. A different approach on coupling will be proposed. This approach is based on a coupling empirical study focused on the different ways that coupling can be looked at. A new taxonomy for coupling will be proposed – the coupling factors. Each coupling factor can distinguish code modules on itself and all the factors combined give a clearer picture of the coupling phenomenon and therefore enables better reasoning on the ways it can be improved, and will allow coupling measurement, regardless of paradigm, language, development phase or system state, in order to enable improvements and comparisons.