Coupling
Coupling is a software design concept that measures the degree of interdependence between modules, components, or classes in a system. It describes how closely connected different parts of a codebase are, with high coupling indicating strong dependencies and low coupling indicating more independent, modular components. This concept is fundamental to software architecture and directly impacts maintainability, testability, and scalability.
Developers should understand coupling to create systems that are easier to maintain, test, and extend over time. Low coupling is particularly important in large-scale applications, microservices architectures, and when following SOLID principles, as it reduces the ripple effect of changes and enables independent development of components. High coupling often leads to brittle code that's difficult to modify without breaking other parts of the system.