Final answer:
The High Fan-in / Low Fan-out principle advises on having many inputs but fewer outputs to a module to reduce complexity and enhance maintainability in systems. It can also apply in solar energy, where micro-inverters increase efficiency by combining higher-voltage outputs in parallel.
Step-by-step explanation:
The High Fan-in / Low Fan-out principle is a design guideline in software engineering and system architecture that recommends having a high number of input connections (fan-in) to a single module, but a low number of output connections (fan-out) from the module. This principle suggests having a module (like a class in object-oriented programming) with many other modules dependent on it, but the primary module should depend on fewer modules. This approach helps to reduce complexity, making systems more maintainable and robust. It can improve code reliability and ease understanding and testing. In the context of solar energy systems, the principle can be loosely applied to inverters, where micro-inverters are used so that each solar panel has an inverter, thus ensuring that higher-voltage outputs from panels are combined in parallel, which increases the system's efficiency and reliability.