SE Radio 662: Vlad Khononov on Balancing Coupling in Software Design
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
Release Date: 04/01/2025
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Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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SE Radio 674: Vilhelm von Ehrenheim on Autonomous Testing
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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SE Radio 672: Luca Palmieri on Rust In Production
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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SE Radio 669: Will McGugan on Text-Based User Interfaces
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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SE Radio 671: Carson Gross on HTMX
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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SE Radio 670: Matthias Endler on Prototype in Rust
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
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SE Radio 666: Eran Yahav on the Tabnine AI Coding Assistant
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
Eran Yahav, Professor of Computer Science at Technion, Israel, and CTO of Tabnine, speaks with host about the Tabnine AI coding assistant. They discuss how the design and implementation allows software engineers to use code completion and perform tasks such as automated code review while still maintaining developer privacy. Eran and Gregory also explore how research in the field of natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs) has informed the features in Tabnine. Brought to you by and .
info_outlineSoftware architect and author Vlad Khononov joins host Jeff Doolittle for a discussion on balancing coupling in software design. They start by examining coupling and its relationship to complexity and modularity. Vlad explains the historical models for assessing coupling and introduces his updated approach, integration strength, which aims to simplify earlier frameworks and adapt them for modern practices.
The episode explores three dimensions of coupling:
- integration strength (knowledge sharing),
- distance (proximity of components), and
- volatility (likelihood of change).
Vlad illustrates how design decisions can lead systems toward complexity or modularity, and he emphasizes the importance of managing coupling to minimize cognitive load and cascading changes. The conversation wraps up with insights on applying these principles to real-world software projects and a reminder of coupling's critical role in software architecture. Brought to you by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.