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What does "cohesion" mean in programming?

cohesion is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.

Definition

The degree to which the elements inside a module belong together and serve a single purpose. A highly cohesive module does one thing well. Low cohesion — mixing unrelated responsibilities — makes code hard to understand, test, and reuse.

Example

"A class that handles both email sending and PDF generation has low cohesion — split it into two focused classes."

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