Single Responsibility Principle (SRP)

The Single Responsibility Principle is one of the five SOLID principles for object-oriented programming and software design. It states that a class, module, or function should have only one reason to change, meaning it should have just one responsibility or purpose.

Key aspects of SRP

• Clarity and Focus: A class or module should do one thing and do it well. This makes the code easier to understand and maintain.
• Reduced Coupling: By assigning specific responsibilities, different parts of the system become more independent. Changes in one part won't affect unrelated functionalities.
• Ease of Testing: Small, focused units of code are simpler to test, debug, and enhance.
• Improved Maintainability: If a class has only one responsibility, changes related to that responsibility can be made without introducing side effects.

Example

Imagine a program managing books in a library. According to SRP:

• The Book class should represent the book's properties (e.g., title, author).
• The Inventory class should manage stock or availability.
• The ReportGenerator class should handle generating library reports.

Each class has its own responsibility, and modifying one (e.g., adding a new report format) doesn't affect the others.