What is "Orthogonality"?

language-agnostic terminology lexicon
AhmetB - Google picture AhmetB - Google · Oct 6, 2009 · Viewed 44.5k times · Source

What does "orthogonality" mean when talking about programming languages?

What are some examples of Orthogonality?

Answer

C. Ross picture C. Ross · Oct 6, 2009

Orthogonality is the property that means "Changing A does not change B". An example of an orthogonal system would be a radio, where changing the station does not change the volume and vice-versa.

A non-orthogonal system would be like a helicopter where changing the speed can change the direction.

In programming languages this means that when you execute an instruction, nothing but that instruction happens (very important for debugging).

There is also a specific meaning when referring to instruction sets.

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