(1) In computer science, tight coupling (or tightly coupled) is a type of coupling that describes a system in which hardware and softwareare not only linked together, but are also dependant upon each other. In a tightly coupled system where multiple systems share a workload, the entire system usually would need to be powered down to fix a major hardware problem, not just the single system with the issue.
(2) In software the term tight coupling is used to define software that will work only in one part of a specific type of system and the software is dependant on other software. For example, an operating system would be considered tightly coupled as it depends on software drivers to correctly install and activate the system’s peripheral devices.
Also called heavy coupling.
See also loose coupling, coupling, and decoupled.
