摘要:

The paper considers the application of design metrics to software development. An empirical investigation is described, the goal of which is to identify design metrics that allow the software engineer to discriminate between designs and pinpoint design weaknesses, particularly with a view to minimising development effort. A design measure based upon information flows between modules is proposed and empirically validated by analysing 13 software systems. A highly significant correlation is found between this metric and development effort measured as computer connect time. By contrast, size-based design metrics are found to exhibit little association with effort.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0002

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

Specification and design have a decisive influence over the quality of software and software-based systems. Much of the value of products is vested in the specification and in early phases of design. Yet the concepts of specification and design are poorly understood, and the practice of quality assurance of specifications, as products in their own right, has not been established. The paper defines the notions of specification and design and proposes a model that can be used in the measurement-based quality assurance of both. The model is illustrated in an example relating to a very simple communication system.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0003

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

The paper outlines the need to use reliability metrics to improve the software production process, particularly during the test phase. A new approach for the organisation of testing activities based on the concept of ‘step-by-step integration’ is introduced. The benefits derived from the adoption of reliability metrics as test targets during system integration are explained. Finally, it is shown how these concepts have inspired the conception of PERFIDE (PERFormance Integrated Development Environment), an innovative tool bridging the gap between software reliability theory and the day-to-day practice of software engineers.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0004

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

The paper considers, through modelling, how software faults are spread throughout the entire life-cycle of a large software product and how fault detection and correction processes will affect the spreading mechanism. The study is further enlarged to incorporate models for cost estimation. The models can be described as being of a qualitative rather than a quantitative nature, in that they highlight the effects of different approaches relative to each other before giving ‘exact’ values for each approach. The study reveals that the behaviour and consequences of different ways of spreading and detection, as well as different cost mixtures, can be studied and thus understood.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0005

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

The paper provides an extension to the methods of monitoring originally developed in the paper by Kitchenham and Walker [1]. It discusses how time-based analysis of the metric information can be used to provide a more continuous form of monitoring to complement the approach taken in that paper. This extension is of particular importance to large or long time scale projects when considerable time and effort is expended between checkpoints.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0006

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

The paper attempts to evaluate some software design metrics, using data from a communications system. The design metrics investigated were based on the information flow metrics proposed by Henry and Kafura, and the problems they encountered are discussed. The slightly simpler metrics used in this study are described. The ability of the design metrics to identify change-prone, error-prone and complex programs was contrasted with that of simple code metrics. Although one of the design metrics (informational fan-out) was able to identify change-prone, fault-prone and complex programs, code metrics (i.e. lines of code and number of branches) were better. In this context ‘better’ means correctly identifying a larger proportion of change-prone, error-prone and/or complex programs, while maintaining a relatively low false identification rate (i.e. incorrectly identifying a program which did not in fact exhibit any undesirable features).

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0007

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

The considerations presented in the paper suggest measuring the diversity degree of fault-tolerant software systems by quantifying the dissimilarity in the input partition of alternative versions. Being closely related to the common failure behaviour of diverse programs and easily estimated by means of dynamic analysis, this method should provide suitable diversity metrics to support the testing and the assessment of ultra-high software reliability.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0008

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

One of the four major themes of the UK government's Alvey Programme which was established in 1983 was software engineering. This theme was subdivided into three special interest areas: formal methods, reliability and metrics and IPSEs (Integrated Project Support Environments). This paper describes one Alvey project which was unusual in as much as it encompassed the first two areas. The major objective of the project was to develop rigorous techniques for analysing and measuring structural properties of systems. The paper frankly describes the achievements and failures of the project, the lessons to be learnt and, in particular, how the very perception of software measurement changed fundamentally during the project. There are recommendations both for future research work in this area and for the nature of future collaborative projects.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0009

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET

摘要:

Overviews of the estimation model function point analysis (FPA) and the operational software development method Jackson system development (JSD) are given. The adaptation to JSD projects of two main versions of the FPA method is described. A number of issues are raised concerning both the applicability of FPA-based techniques to JSD projects and general ways in which FPA estimation might be improved. A summary is presented of the results obtained by applying the two adaptations to an actual commercial JSD project, and various objectives are highlighted for future research.

DOI:10.1049/sej.1990.0010

出版商:IEE    

年代:1990

数据来源: IET