1.2.1. Open-closed modules

Building systems incrementally requires for practical reasons already exposed e.g. by [Simon69-81], that the intermediate results achieved so far be not jeopardized as the development continues. The common answer to this problem is modularity.

[Meyer88] devises a definition of modularity as a synthesis of otherwise contradictory criteria: decomposability, composability, understandability, continuity and protection.

He further shows that suitable modules must satisfy two conditions. They must be both:

Building on `linguistic units' which match this specification is the common concern of object orientation.

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Marc Girod
Last modified: Sat Feb 28 14:23:08 EET 1998