computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

, a concern is a particular set of information that has an effect on the code of a

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

. A concern can be as general as the details of

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

interaction or as specific as performing a primitive calculation, depending on the level of conversation between developers and the program being discussed.

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

uses the term ''concern space'' to describe the sectioning of conceptual information.

Overview

Usually the code can be separated into logical sections, each addressing separate concerns, and so it hides the need for a given section to know particular information addressed by a different section. This leads to a modular program.

Edsger W. Dijkstra Edsger Wybe Dijkstra ( ; ; 11 May 1930 – 6 August 2002) was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, software engineer, mathematician, and science essayist. Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Dijkstra studied mathematics and physics and the ...

coined the term "

separation of concerns In computer science, separation of concerns (sometimes abbreviated as SoC) is a design principle for separating a computer program into distinct sections. Each section addresses a separate '' concern'', a set of information that affects the code o ...

" to describe the mentality behind this modularization, which allows the programmer to reduce the complexity of the system being designed. Two different concerns that intermingle in the same section of code are called " highly coupled". Sometimes the chosen module divisions do not allow for one concern to be completely separated from another, resulting in cross-cutting concerns.Mendhekar, Anurag, Gregor Kiczales, and John Lamping
"RG: A Case-Study For Aspect-Oriented Programming"
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Feb 1997. The various

programming paradigm A programming paradigm is a relatively high-level way to conceptualize and structure the implementation of a computer program. A programming language can be classified as supporting one or more paradigms. Paradigms are separated along and descri ...

s address the issue of cross-cutting concerns to different degrees. Data logging is a common cross-cutting concern, being used in many other parts of the program other than the particular module(s) that actually log the data. Since changes to the logging code can affect other sections,{{How, date=September 2015 it could introduce bugs in the operation of the program. Paradigms that specifically address the issue of concern separation: *

Object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impl ...

, describes concerns as objects *

Functional programming In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm where programs are constructed by Function application, applying and Function composition (computer science), composing Function (computer science), functions. It is a declarat ...

, describing concerns as functions * Aspect-oriented software development, treating concerns and their interaction as constructs of their standing

References

External links

Concerns in Rails, by DHH, the Rails creator
Software engineering terminology

Overview

See also

References

External links