Balancing Coupling in Software Design: Universal Design Principles for Architecting Modular Software Systems

Introduction

Imagine a top-notch Swiss watch: a marvel of engineering, tradition, and craftsmanship combined. Its primary function, obviously, is accurate timekeeping. The Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute requires that watches not be off by more than 4 seconds slow or 6 seconds fast per day, on average, during a testing period of 15 days. But that’s not all. Modern watches also include complications, such as a chronograph, date display, moon phase, or the simultaneous display of time in multiple time zones. All this is achieved by hundreds of tiny components. Each part, no matter how small, plays a crucial role in the overarching mechanism.

But that’s not all.

The precision of interactions between components is paramount. For instance, ...