Reliability Modeling, Analysis and Optimization
Bringing together many of the leading experts in the field, this volume presents a broad picture of current research on system modeling and optimization in reliability and its applications.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Reliability Modeling, Analysis and Optimization
Chapter 8: Measurement of Object-Oriented Software Understandability Using Spatial Complexity
Jitender Kumar Chhabra
Department of Computer Engineering,
National Institute of Technology (formerly R.E.C.),
Kurukshetra 136119, India
jitenderchhabra@rediffmail.com
K. K. Aggarwal
GGS Indraprastha University, Delhi 110006, India
aggarwal_krishan@hotmail.com
Yogesh Singh
School of Information Technology, GGS Indraprastha University,
Delhi 110006, India
ys66@rediffmail.com
1. Need of Measurement
A critical distinction between software engineering and other, more well-established branches of engineering is the shortage of well-accepted measures, or metrics, of software development. Without metrics, the tasks of planning and controlling software development and maintenance will remain stagnant in a craft-type mode, wherein greater skill is acquired only through greater experience, and such experience cannot be easily communicated to the next system for study, adoption, and further improvement. With metrics, software projects can be quantitatively described, and the methods and tools used on the projects to improve productivity and quality can be evaluated.1 In order to control, manage, and maintain software, the software complexity needs to be measured. If you cannot measure it, you cannot control it.2
[*]The concept of object-oriented spatial complexity was accepted as a paper in 9th ISSAT International Conference, Honolulu, USA, 2003 and its revised form has been communicated to Information and Software Technology Journal.
2. Concept of Complexity and Understandability
There are many aspects of the software complexity. Some of them contribute towards the design and algorithmic complexity, some contribute towards readability and understandability of the software, and some other aspects have an influence on the debugging and testability of the software. No single metric of complexity is adequate...
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