This is the first in a small series on the fundamental principles of object-oriented programming. Most examples will be in Ruby.

Orthogonal Software

In mathematics, orthogonality describes the property two vectors have when they are perpendicular to each other. Each vector will advance indefinitely into space, never to intersect. Well designed software is orthogonal. Each of its components can be altered without effecting other components. Making precise changes with predictable outcomes is easy.

Orthogonal design is the union of two principles, cohesion and coupling.

Cohesion

Cohesion describes the focus of an individual software component. When a component has only one responsibility, and therefore only one reason to change, then it has high cohesion. When a component has many responsibilities, and therefore many reasons to change, then it has low cohesion. Low cohesion is also noticeable when common responsibilities are spread throughout unrelated components.

Components with high cohesion are more robust than components with low cohesion. If an object representing an engine is responsible for both accelerating and decelerating, then a change to the acceleration implementation could inadvertently effect the deceleration implementation. If, however, the engine object is responsible for acceleration and a separate brake object is responsible for deceleration, then a change to the acceleration implementation in the engine object is unlikely to effect the deceleration implementation in the brake object.

Maintaining highly cohesive components is easy. If all the logic dealing with deceleration is in the brake object, and that logic is not spread throughout your system, then you won’t have to go hunting around your system whenever you make changes to the deceleration logic. You only need to look at your break object.

Orthogonal design requires highly cohesive components. Keep your components small and focused.

Coupling

Whereas cohesion is used to describe a single software component, coupling is used to describe the relationship between components. Coupling is the extent to which a component of your software depends on other components.

Loosely coupled components have fewer dependencies than tightly coupled components. Modifying a tightly coupled component is difficult. If a car object, boat object, and plane object are all tightly coupled to an engine object, then a modification to the engine object will necessitate changes to the car, boat, and plane objects. And if any of those objects are tightly coupled to other objects, then those other objects will also have to be changed, and so on and so forth.

Orthogonal software requires software components to be loosely coupled to one another.

Two Simple Examples

Below are two examples of a simple Dictionary written in Ruby. The dictionary supports reading and writing definitions to a file in either plain text or XML. We will compare them using the principles of cohesion and coupling to prove the second example is more orthogonal than the first.

Dictionary Example 1

def read_dictionary(file) if File.extname(file) == ".xml" # read and return definitions in XML from file else # read and return definitions in text from file end end def write_dictionary(file, definitions) if File.extname(file) == ".xml" # write definitions to file in XML else # write definitions to file in text end end definitions = Hash.new definitions["autodidact"] = "someone who learned without a teacher" definitions["cogent"] = "clear, logical, and convincing" definitions["pedagogy"] = "the method and practice of teaching" file = "dictionary.txt" write_dictionary(file, definitions) read_dictionary(file)

The above example is straightforward. We store the definitions in a hash, and we use two methods read_dictionary and write_dictionary to manage reading and writing to the file system in either plain text or XML.

Dictionary Example 2

class Dictionary def initialize(file) @definitions = Hash.new @file = file end def add_definition(term, definition) @definitions[term] = definition end def self.instance(file) if File.extname(file) == ".xml" XMLDictionary.new(file) else TextDictionary.new(file) end end end class XMLDictionary < Dictionary def write # write XML to @file using the @definitions hash end def read # read XML from @file and populate the @definitions hash end end class TextDictionary < Dictionary def write # write text to @file using the @definitions hash end def read # read text from @file and populate the @definitions hash end end dictionary = Dictionary.instance("dictionary.txt") dictionary.add_definition("autodidact", "someone who learned without a teacher") dictionary.add_definition("cogent", "clear, logical, and convincing") dictionary.add_definition("pedagogy", "the method and practice of teaching") dictionary.write dictionary.read

The example above is more verbose, but it is also more orthogonal. Lets see why.

Analysis

Lets begin by looking at these examples using the principle of cohesion. We learned above that common procedures spread among multiple contexts is indicative of low cohesion. In Example 1, there are three common tasks that are spread among multiple contexts. First, and most obvious, the logic determining file format is repeated in the read_dictionary and write_dictionary methods. Second, the XML formatting tasks are spread between the read_dictionary and write_dictionary methods. And finally, the plain text formatting tasks are also spread between the read_dictionary and write_dictionary methods. Adding or removing a file format, changing the XML format, or changing the plain text format, all require changing the read_dictionary and write_dictionary methods.

In Example 2, however, the file format logic, the XML formatting logic, and the plain text formatting logic are each restricted to their own context. The file format logic is restricted to the Dictionary class method instance . The XML formatting tasks are restricted to the XMLDictionary object. And the plain text formatting tasks are restricted to the TextDictionary object. The Dictionary class, the XMLDictionary object, and the TextDictionary object all have higher functional cohesion than the methods in Example 1. As a result, it is easier to make changes. We wouldn’t have to hunt down multiple contexts when adding a file format.

Lets now analyze the examples using the principle of coupling. In Example 1, the two methods write_dictionary and read_dictionary are coupled together. Although the two methods don’t explicitly depend upon each other, they are implicitly related via the file format. Any changes to the file format logic will necessitate changes to both methods.

In Example 2, however, file format logic is decoupled from read/write formatting. You can change the file format logic without changing XML or plain text formatting logic. Lets, for example, assume the requirements have changed. We want to accept a file name without an extension as plain text. You only need to change the Dictionary.instance class method. You don’t need to touch the read or write methods of the Dictionary subclasses. In Example 1, you would have to change the read_dictionary method and the write_dictionary method.

Example 2 has also reduced coupling between the controlling code and the model objects. Notice how the controlling code doesn’t concern itself with file format at all. It doesn’t care if it is working with an XMLDictionary object or a TextDictionary object. We can easily add or remove a file format without making any changes to the controlling code.

Conclusion

Highly cohesive components that are loosely coupled to each other produce an orthogonal system. The second example illustrates the advantage of orthogonal code. It is understandable and flexible. Keep your components focused and try to minimize the dependencies between them.