#tight coupling

The term coupling is commonly used to describe a device that connects one object to another. One simple example that comes to mind is a garden hose coupling. The actual coupling is the threaded piece on the end of the hose that allows you to couple the hose to a spigot. Image trying to somehow (duct tape maybe) connect a rubber hose to a spigot without the coupling ... good luck right??? In the world of Java the term coupling refers to the connection that two classes have with each other. There are two types of coupling in Java: loose-coupling and tight-coupling. If I go back to the hose coupling for minute, it is a bad thing to have a loose-coupling (water drips and sprays everywhere) and a good thing to have a tight coupling (no drips). Back in the world of Java it is the exact opposite, loose = good, tight = bad.

[via You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster by Dan Barber] “In fact, this late blight outbreak [that is killing tomatoes on East coast] appears to be a classic example of what Charles Perrow, a sociologist, calls a “tightly coupled” accident. With tight coupling — lots of tomatoes grown in one place, say, or distributed by one large retailer — failures in one part of the system can quickly multiply. The damage cannot be as readily controlled. The recent spike in food-borne illnesses is another example of the problems associated with an overly consolidated food chain. E. coli’s been around for a long time; what’s new is how quickly and widely it spreads when there are only a few big meat producers.”