Lecture

Modular Programming: Managing Project Complexity

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Description

This lecture introduces the concept of modular programming, focusing on how to manage the complexity of large projects. It begins by defining software architecture and the importance of minimizing dependencies between modules. The instructor explains the structure of a module, which consists of an interface and an implementation, and emphasizes the principles of abstraction and reusability. The lecture covers the process of compiling code and creating executables, detailing the steps of compilation and linking. The significance of the call graph is discussed, illustrating how it provides a synthetic view of function dependencies. The instructor also highlights the importance of using makefiles to manage dependencies and ensure coherence in large projects. By the end of the lecture, students will understand how to effectively structure their code using modules, the implications of module dependencies, and the practical aspects of compiling and linking in a modular programming environment.

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Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Mathematics

Discrete mathematics: Graph theory

Theoretical computer science

Programming language theory: High-level programming languages

Related concepts (32)

Object-oriented programming

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or properties), and the code is in the form of procedures (often known as methods). A common feature of objects is that procedures (or methods) are attached to them and can access and modify the object's data fields. In this brand of OOP, there is usually a special name such as or used to refer to the current object.

Inheritance (object-oriented programming)

In object-oriented programming, inheritance is the mechanism of basing an object or class upon another object (prototype-based inheritance) or class (class-based inheritance), retaining similar implementation. Also defined as deriving new classes (sub classes) from existing ones such as super class or base class and then forming them into a hierarchy of classes. In most class-based object-oriented languages like C++, an object created through inheritance, a "child object", acquires all the properties and behaviors of the "parent object", with the exception of: constructors, destructors, overloaded operators and friend functions of the base class.

Interface (object-oriented programming)

In object-oriented programming, an interface or protocol type is a data type that acts as an abstraction of a class. It describes a set of method signatures, the implementations of which may be provided by multiple classes that are otherwise not necessarily related to each other. A class which provides the methods listed in a protocol is said to adopt the protocol, or to implement the interface. If objects are fully encapsulated then the protocol is the only way in which they may be accessed by other objects.

Graph theory

In mathematics, graph theory is the study of graphs, which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of vertices (also called nodes or points) which are connected by edges (also called links or lines). A distinction is made between undirected graphs, where edges link two vertices symmetrically, and directed graphs, where edges link two vertices asymmetrically. Graphs are one of the principal objects of study in discrete mathematics.

Null graph

In the mathematical field of graph theory, the term "null graph" may refer either to the order-zero graph, or alternatively, to any edgeless graph (the latter is sometimes called an "empty graph"). The order-zero graph, K_0, is the unique graph having no vertices (hence its order is zero). It follows that K_0 also has no edges. Thus the null graph is a regular graph of degree zero. Some authors exclude K_0 from consideration as a graph (either by definition, or more simply as a matter of convenience).

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