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A Validation of Object-Oriented Design MetricsThis paper presents the results of a study conducted at the University of Maryland in which we experimentally investigated the suite of Object-Oriented (00) design metrics introduced by [Chidamber and Kemerer, 1994]. In order to do this, we assessed these metrics as predictors of fault-prone classes. This study is complementary to [Lieand Henry, 1993] where the same suite of metrics had been used to assess frequencies of maintenance changes to classes. To perform our validation accurately, we collected data on the development of eight medium-sized information management systems based on identical requirements. All eight projects were developed using a sequential life cycle model, a well-known 00 analysis/design method and the C++ programming language. Based on experimental results, the advantages and drawbacks of these 00 metrics are discussed and suggestions for improvement are provided. Several of Chidamber and Kemerer's 00 metrics appear to be adequate to predict class fault-proneness during the early phases of the life-cycle. We also showed that they are, on our data set, better predictors than "traditional" code metrics, which can only be collected at a later phase of the software development processes.
Document ID
19990021263
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Other
Authors
Basili, Victor R.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD United States)
Briand, Lionel
(Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montreal Montreal, Quebec Canada)
Melo, Walcelio L.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
November 1, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Collected Software Engineering Papers
Volume: 13
Subject Category
Computer Programming And Software
Report/Patent Number
UM-CS-TR-3443
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF 01-5-24845
CONTRACT_GRANT: NsG-5123
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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