Software Design – Perfect Notes (Week 5)

1. Purpose of Design Phase

 Transforms the SRS (Software Requirements Specification) into a design document

 Main outputs: module structure, control relationships, interfaces, data structures,

2. What is a Module?

 A module contains related functions and associated data structures.

 Modules are the building blocks of software design.

3. Design Process: Iterative Nature

 Good designs are rarely achieved in one step; they require several iterations and
refinements.

 Design is divided into two main stages:

o High-level (Preliminary) Design: Identifies modules, their relationships, and

o Detailed Design: Specifies data structures and algorithms for each module
(results in module specifications).

4. Characteristics of Good Software Design

 Implements all required functionalities correctly.

 Easily understandable (improves maintainability and reduces errors).

 Efficient in terms of performance and resource use.

 Easily modifiable (amenable to change).

5. Improving Understandability

 Use consistent, meaningful names for design components.

 Decompose the system into well-defined, independent modules (modularity).

6. Modularity

 Divides a problem into independent modules (divide and conquer principle).

 Independent modules are easier to understand, develop, and maintain.

 Hierarchical arrangement (layering) helps manage complexity.

7. Cohesion and Coupling

 Cohesion: Measures how strongly the elements within a module are related.

o High cohesion = module does one well-defined task.

 Coupling: Measures the degree of interdependence between modules.

o Low coupling = modules interact minimally.

 Goal: High cohesion, low coupling (functional independence).

Types of Cohesion (from weakest to strongest):

 Coincidental: Unrelated tasks grouped together.

 Logical: Similar operations grouped (e.g., all input functions).

 Temporal: Tasks executed in the same time span (e.g., initialization).

 Procedural: Tasks that must be done in a specific order.

 Communicational: Tasks operate on the same data.

 Sequential: Output of one task is input to the next.

 Functional: All elements contribute to a single, well-defined function.

Types of Coupling (from weakest to strongest):

 Data Coupling: Modules share only necessary data (parameters).

 Stamp Coupling: Modules share composite data structures.

 Control Coupling: One module controls the flow of another (e.g., flags).

 Common Coupling: Modules share global data.

 Content Coupling: One module directly modifies or relies on the internal workings
of another.
8. Advantages of Functional Independence

 Easier to understand and maintain.

 Reduces error propagation between modules.

 Facilitates module reuse in other programs.

9. Measuring Cohesion and Coupling

 No precise quantitative measures, but classification helps estimate quality.

 Aim for modules with high cohesion and low coupling.

10. Hierarchical Design and Module Structure

 Control Hierarchy: Tree-like structure showing which modules control others.

 Fan-out: Number of modules directly controlled by a module (should be low).

 Fan-in: Number of modules that call a given module (high fan-in is good for reuse).

 Layering: Modules at one layer only call modules in the layer below.

11. Abstraction

 Lower-level modules handle detailed tasks; upper-level modules handle

 Layered design: lower modules do not call higher modules.

12. Design Approaches

 Function-Oriented Design:

o System is seen as a set of functions.

o Functions are refined into sub-functions (top-down decomposition).

o State is centralized and accessible to all functions.

 Object-Oriented Design (OOD):

o System is seen as a collection of objects (entities with data and behavior).

o State is decentralized; each object manages its own data.

o Objects communicate via message passing.

Key Differences:

 Function-oriented: focus on functions (verbs), centralized data.

 Object-oriented: focus on objects/entities (nouns), distributed data.

 OOD is often used for overall system structure, with function-oriented techniques for
internal methods.

13. Summary

 Design phase transforms requirements into a structured, implementable plan.

 Good design = high cohesion, low coupling, clear hierarchy, and modularity.

 Both function-oriented and object-oriented approaches are valuable and often