Lesson plan
Sequential coupling
In object-oriented programming, sequential coupling (also known as temporal coupling) is a form of coupling where a class requires its methods to be called in a particular sequence. This may be an anti-pattern, depending on context. Methods whose name starts with Init, Begin, Start, etc. may indicate the existence of sequential coupling. Using a car as an analogy, if the user steps on the gas without first starting the engine, the car does not crash, fail, or throw an exception - it simply fails to accelerate. Sequential coupling can be refactored with the template method pattern to overcome the problems posed by the usage of this anti-pattern.
Article summary
In object-oriented programming, sequential coupling (also known as temporal coupling) is a form of coupling where a class requires its methods to be called in a particular sequence. This may be an anti-pattern, depending on context. Methods whose name starts with Init, Begin, Start, etc. may indicate the existence of sequential coupling. Using a car as an analogy, if the user steps on the gas without first starting the engine, the car does not crash, fail, or throw an exception - it simply fails to accelerate. Sequential coupling can be refactored with the template method pattern to overcome the problems posed by the usage of this anti-pattern.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.