Analyzing Dependencies with Dependency Structure Matrix

When working on complex software projects it’s especially important to track dependencies between project parts. You might encounter too complicated relationships, or cyclic dependencies, that may seriously affect application performance and behavior, or even impede further project development. IntelliJ IDEA has adopted the DSM technology to provide easy reviewing and resolving of potential problems in project structure.

DSM stands for Dependency Structure Matrix - a method for exploring dependencies between program parts (modules, classes, etc.), and provides a compact matrix representation of a project. It helps you visualize the dependencies between the parts of a project and highlights the information flow within a project.

For example, if a project contains mutual dependencies, called cycles, we’ll simply detect them while exploring the DSM view:

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The dedicated blog post allows you to closer get acquainted with this absolutely necessary feature.