Conscious CouplingBuilding Software that LastsCiaran McNulty at SymfonyLive London

Me

Hi, I'm Ciaran and I'm a PHP developerI am a consultant with Inviqa

I maintain PhpSpec

My early period:Follow the framework!

SymfonyLive London 2013Konstantin Kudryashov and Marcello Duarte -The Framework as an Implementation Detail

SymfonyLive London 2014Matthias Noback - The Naked Bundle

My middle period:Decouple all the things!

Modelling by ExampleKonstantin Kudryashov (again)

My current period:Couple some of the things!

What is coupling?

class TaxiDispatcher { function dispatch (Car $car, $destination) { $this->chargeCustomer(); $car->goTo($destination); }}

Problems with dependencies

—Changes to Car mean changes to Dispatcher—Can't reuse Dispatcher with new vehicles

interface Vehicle{ public function goTo($destination);}

class TaxiDispatcher { function dispatch (Vehicle $vehicle, $destination) { $this->chargeCustomer(); $vehicle->goTo($destination); }}

Benefits of abstraction

—Now we only need to rewrite Dispatcher and Car when Vehicle changes

—Vehicle can be very stable; it's just an interface—Can make new transportation types that

implement Vehicle

Defining abstractions

—Start with the use case, not the implementation detail

—Contract should be a simple as possible—Contract should focus on responsibilities—Hide details of underlying APIs

Example - upgrade eligibility

Bad abstraction:interface HttpClient{ public function getData : array ($url, $parameters);}

Example - upgrade eligibility

Better abstraction:interface UpgradeEligibilityChecker{ public function getContractId : int ($phoneNumber); public function isEligibleForUpgrade : bool ($contractId);}

Example - upgrade eligibility

Best abstraction:interface UpgradeEligibilityChecker{ public function isEligibleForUpgrade : bool ($phoneNumber);}

Abstraction via interfaces

—You still need to know what methods to call—Caller has to respond to changes in the callee

Taking it further:Events and Commands

—Migrate actions from method calls to objects—Depend on a bus rather than depending on

contracts—Don't know anything about what handles the

action

Events

Direct coupling:$notifier->notifyLawyersAboutPurchase($id, $item, $cost);

Event style (symfony/event-dispatcher):$eventDispatcher->dispatch( 'item.purchased', new ItemWasPurchased($id, $item, $cost););

Commands

Use case / service style:$invoiceApprover->approveInvoice(1234);Command style (thephpleague/tactician):$commandBus->handle( new ApproveInvoice(1234););

Advantages of decoupling via abstractions

—Cleaner APIs—Swappable components—Separation of concerns—Easier to test—No 'ripple effect' around changes

Disadvantages of decoupling via abstractions

—Makes execution flow harder to follow—Adds more complexity (more files in codebase)—Cognitive cost of thinking of good abstractions

Decoupling from infrastructure

—Abstractions are going to change when the use cases change

—Interfaces are more tightly coupled to code that uses them

—Interfaces 'belong' in the same architectural boundary as the code that uses them.

FrameworksCoupling to other people's code

Highly coupled frameworks

Some frameworks let you go really quickly by coupling directly to them.

You probably won't be able to reuse your code without considerable effort.

—Drupal—Magento—Wordpress

More coupled framworks

Some frameworks let you go faster when you adopt their conventions.

You can reuse your code with a fair amount of additional effort.

—Symfony (1)—CakePHP—Laravel

More decoupled frameworks

Some frameworks encourage decoupling so your code is more reusable.

You will go a little slower because you need to explicitly configure things

—Symfony 2+—Zend Framework 2+

Very decoupled frameworks

Some frameworks are extremely decoupled so code is almost entirely reusable.

You almost have to construct the entire framework yourself from components - this can be hard!

—D.I.Y.—Silex—Zend Expressive

Decoupling inside your system

Only decouple where you need to(how do we know where that is?)

Coupled code get painful when change happensDecoupled code was wasted effort when change doesn't happen

Where does change come from?

Where does change come from?

People!

Organizations which design systems ... are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations— Melvin Conway, 1967

Decouple your system to respond to different streams of change

Service-orientation

—Good abstractions help you define boundaries—Abstractions inside a monolith are easier to move

when you get it wrong—Share values, not entities—Don't share persistence

Context mapping

—Identify subdomains—Identify which are:

—Core subdomains—Supporting subdomains—Generic subdomains

—Mirror the structure in your architecture

The bad news:You will get it wrong

You only find out afterwards

The good news:It's not just you

Things to check out

—Context Mapping—Hexagonal Architecture—Modelling by Example

Thank you!

—@ciaranmcnulty—Lead Maintainer of PhpSpec—Trainer and Coach at Inviqa

Questions?