Software assessment using object metrices (original) (raw)

Adequate metrics of object-oriented software enable to determine the complexity of a system, estimate the effort needed for testing and even locate some parts in the design that could be error prone or should be redesigned. The measurements and metrics are not widely used in the development of software. Contemporary systems are complex and adequate measuring tool is necessary in the design and evolution process. In this chapter we present how software metrics can be used in assessing software. Some software measuring tools (i.e. JMetrics, Essential metrics, Understand, X-Ray, Eclipse Metrics Plugin, Borland Together and Metrics) are briefly described. A critical comparison of these tools is also given. Next, a case study-an evaluation of three versions of a well known open source software-Junit is presented. To measure this application Metrics 1.3.6, an Eclipse plug-in, was used. The correlation of metrics values and real quality attributes of software is described. On the basis of metrics values some conclusions concerning the quality of the design of each version and some general trends in the evolution of JUnit project evolution are derived.