Multiple-parameter coupling metrics for layered component-based software

  • Authors:

  • Liguo Yu;Kai Chen;Srini Ramaswamy

  • Affiliations:

  • Computer and Information Sciences Department, Indiana University South Bend, South Bend, USA 46634;Google Incorporation, Mountain View, USA;Computer Science Department, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, USA

  • Venue:
  • Software Quality Control
  • Year:
  • 2009

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Coupling represents the degree of interdependence between two software components. Understanding software dependency is directly related to improving software understandability, maintainability, and reusability. In this paper, we analyze the difference between component coupling and component dependency, introduce a two-parameter component coupling metric and a three-parameter component dependency metric. An important parameter in both these metrics is coupling distance, which represents the relevance of two coupled components. These metrics are applicable to layered component-based software. These metrics can be used to represent the dependencies induced by all types of software coupling. We show how to determine coupling and dependency of all scales of software components using these metrics. These metrics are then applied to Apache HTTP, an open-source web server. The study shows that coupling distance is related to the number of modifications of a component, which is an important indicator of component fault rate, stability and subsequently, component complexity.