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The evaluation of software systems' structure using quantitative software metrics
Author(s) -
Henry Sallie,
Kafura Dennis
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
software: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Book series
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1097-024X
pISSN - 0038-0644
ISBN - 0-07-707410-6
DOI - 10.1002/spe.4380140606
Subject(s) - computer science , interconnectivity , unix , software system , software , software metric , software sizing , software construction , software design , component based software engineering , set (abstract data type) , data mining , software engineering , software development , programming language , artificial intelligence
The design and analysis of the structure of software systems has typically been based on purely qualitative grounds. In this paper we report on our positive experience with a set of quantitative measures of software structure. These metrics, based on the number of possible paths of information flow through a given component, were used to evaluate the design and implementation of a software system (the UNIX operating system kernel) which exhibits the interconnectivity of components typical of large‐scale software systems. Several examples are presented which show the power of this technique in locating a variety of both design and implementation defects. Suggested repairs, which agree with the commonly accepted principles of structured design and programming, are presented. The effect of these alterations on the structure of the system and the quantitative measurements of that structure lead to a convincing validation of the utility of information flow metrics.