What is “Orthogonality”?

Question

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

What are some examples of Orthogonality?

Answer 1

The basic idea of orthogonality is that things that are not related conceptually should not be related in the system. Parts of the architecture that really have nothing to do with the other, such as the database and the UI, should not need to be changed together. A change to one should not cause a change to the other.