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This document discusses class coupling in object-oriented programming and the relationships between classes. There are two main types of relationships: inheritance and composition. Inheritance allows one class to inherit code from another class (an "is-a" relationship), while composition allows a class to contain another class as a property (a "has-a" relationship). The document recommends favoring composition over inheritance due to problems that can arise from large, complex class hierarchies when using inheritance exclusively. Composition provides looser coupling and more flexibility between classes.

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77 views2 pages

Summary PDF

This document discusses class coupling in object-oriented programming and the relationships between classes. There are two main types of relationships: inheritance and composition. Inheritance allows one class to inherit code from another class (an "is-a" relationship), while composition allows a class to contain another class as a property (a "has-a" relationship). The document recommends favoring composition over inheritance due to problems that can arise from large, complex class hierarchies when using inheritance exclusively. Composition provides looser coupling and more flexibility between classes.

Uploaded by

Shafieq
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C# Intermediate: Classes, Interfaces and OOP

By: Mosh Hamedani





www.programmingwithmosh.com

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN CLASSES

Class Coupling
- A measure of how interconnected classes and subsystems are.
- The more coupled classes, the harder it is to change them. A change in one class may
affect many other classes.
- Loosely coupled software, as opposed to tightly coupled software, is easier to change.
- Two types of relationships between classes: Inheritance and Composition. 


Inheritance
- A kind of relationship between two classes that allows one to inherit code from the
other.
- Referred to as Is-A relationship: A Car is a Vehicle
- Benefits: code re-use and polymorphic behaviour. 


public class Car : Vehicle 



{ 

}

Composition
- A kind of relationship that allows one class to contain another.
- Referred to as Has-A relationship: A Car has an Engine

1
- Benefits: Code re-use, flexibility and a means to loose-coupling







public class DbMigrator

{

// We re-use the code in the logger class without 

// the need to repeat that logic here in DbMigrator

private Logger _logger;

}


Favour Composition over Inheritance


- Problems with inheritance:
• Easily abused by amateur designers / developers
• Leads to large complex hierarchies
• Such hierarchies are very fragile and a change may affect many classes
• Results in tight coupling
- Benefits of composition:
• Flexible
• Leads to loose coupling
- Having said all that, it doesn’t mean inheritance should be avoided at all times. In fact,
it’s great to use inheritance when dealing with very stable classes on top of small
hierarchies. As the hierarchy grows (or variations of classes increase), the hierarchy,
however, becomes fragile. And that’s where composition can give you a better design.




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