Word to describe dependency relations

Question

I want to expresss below 2 concepts in simple terms, especially the bold parts:

A and all the things A depends on.
A and all the things that depend on A.

Is there any special term or single word can be used? I guess there may be something similar to the pattern of employer and employee. Thanks.

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The scenario is like this:

A is a computer program module.
A depends on one group of modules to run.
And another group of modules depend on A to run.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by depends? What is the nature of the dependency relationship? Is it a taxonomy or class hierarchy? Is it group dynamics? Is it an economic interdependency? An ecosystem? — TimR, Sep 23 '17 at 10:00
You could say "modules that refer to A" and "modules A refers to". — TimR, Sep 23 '17 at 10:13
"Is there any ... single word can be used?" No, you need at least two words, just as you need "employer" and "employee". — chasly - supports Monica, Jan 04 '21 at 20:25
Does this answer your question? differences between dependence and dependency My answer there makes the point that in software contexts, the normal meaning of "X's dependencies" is often inverted from "things that depend on X" to "things that X depends on". — FumbleFingers, Oct 11 '21 at 12:36

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 23 '17 at 18:29

First of all: welcome!

In programming (like you surely know) there are some common names for modules, like 'classes', 'bundles', 'namespaces', 'libraries', 'packages' ....

In my opinion you need to find out, what is the most appropriate word in relation to your programming language or software development paradigm! Then it will be easy for you to pick the right term.

When I read your post for the first time object oriented programming came to my mind. If this is the case, then 'parent class' or 'parent package' ('A and its corresponding parent packages / classes') will be pretty appropriate, I guess. Your second scenario would be 'A and all of its subclasses'.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 11 '21 at 09:29

You want to express these two relationships:

A depends on one group of modules to run. And another group of modules depend on A to run.

The simplest way to express this relationship is to say:

A depends on X, Y and Z.
I, J and K are dependents of A.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 11 '21 at 14:06

"All the things A depends on" are A's dependencies. If you include the things that those dependencies depend on, and so on recursively, those are the transitive dependencies. I am not aware of a term that encompasses "A and A's transitive dependencies".

The things that depend on A are its dependents, or possibly downstream packages, or consumers.

Word to describe dependency relations

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3 Answers3