Software Design
Data coupling Best
Stamp coupling
Control coupling
External coupling
Common coupling
Content coupling Worst
Fig. 7 : The types of module coupling
Given two procedures A & B, we can identify number of
ways in which they can be coupled.
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 19
Software Design
Data coupling
The dependency between module A and B is said to be data
coupled if their dependency is based on the fact they
communicate by only passing of data. Other than
communicating through data, the two modules are
independent.
Stamp coupling
Stamp coupling occurs between module A and B when
complete data structure is passed from one module to another.
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 20
Software Design
Control coupling
Module A and B are said to be control coupled if they
communicate by passing of control information. This is usually
accomplished by means of flags that are set by one module and
reacted upon by the dependent module.
Common coupling
With common coupling, module A and module B have shared
data. Global data areas are commonly found in programming
languages. Making a change to the common data means tracing
back to all the modules which access that data to evaluate the
effect of changes.
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 21
Software Design
Content coupling
Content coupling occurs when module A changes data of
module B or when control is passed from one module to the
middle of another. In Fig. 9, module B branches into D, even
though D is supposed to be under the control of C.
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 23
Software Design
Functional Cohesion Best (high)
Sequential Cohesion
Communicational Cohesion
Procedural Cohesion
Temporal Cohesion
Logical Cohesion
Coincidental Cohesion Worst (low)
Fig. 11 : Types of module cohesion
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 27
Software Design
Functional Cohesion
A and B are part of a single functional task. This is very good
reason for them to be contained in the same procedure.
Sequential Cohesion
Module A outputs some data which forms the input to B. This is
the reason for them to be contained in the same procedure.
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 28
Software Design
Procedural Cohesion
Procedural Cohesion occurs in modules whose instructions
although accomplish different tasks yet have been combined
because there is a specific order in which the tasks are to be
completed.
Temporal Cohesion
Module exhibits temporal cohesion when it contains tasks that
are related by the fact that all tasks must be executed in the
same time-span.
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 29
Software Design
Logical Cohesion
Logical cohesion occurs in modules that contain instructions
that appear to be related because they fall into the same logical
class of functions.
Coincidental Cohesion
Coincidental cohesion exists in modules that contain
instructions that have little or no relationship to one another.
Software Engineering (3rd ed.), By K.K Aggarwal & Yogesh Singh, Copyright © New Age International Publishers, 2007 30
