Software assessment using metrics: A comparison across large C++ and Java systems

  • Authors:

  • Jean Mayrand;Jean-François Patenaude;Ettore Merlo;Michel Dagenais;Bruno Laguë

  • Affiliations:

  • DGEGI Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, École Polytechnique, P.O. Box 6079, Downtown Station, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7 Canada E-mail: jean.mayrand@videotron.ca, ...;DGEGI Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, École Polytechnique, P.O. Box 6079, Downtown Station, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7 Canada E-mail: jean.mayrand@videotron.ca, ...;DGEGI Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, École Polytechnique, P.O. Box 6079, Downtown Station, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7 Canada E-mail: jean.mayrand@videotron.ca, ...;DGEGI Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, École Polytechnique, P.O. Box 6079, Downtown Station, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7 Canada E-mail: jean.mayrand@videotron.ca, ...;Bell Canada, Quality Engineering and Research Group, 1050 Beaver Hall, 2nd floor, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1S4 Canada E-mail: bruno.lague@bell.ca

  • Venue:
  • Annals of Software Engineering
  • Year:
  • 2000

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Abstract

This paper presents an assessment method to evaluate the quality of object oriented software systems. The assessment method is based on source code abstraction, object‐oriented metrics and graphical representation. The metrics used and the underlying model representing the software are presented. The assessment method experiment is part of an industrial research effort with the Bell Canada Quality Engineering and Research Group. It helps evaluators assess the quality and risks associated with software by identifying code fragments presenting unusual characteristics. The assessment method evaluates object‐oriented software systems at three levels of granularity: system level, class level and method level. One large C++ and eight Java software systems, for a total of over one million lines of code, are presented as case studies. A critical analysis of the results is presented comparing the systems and the two languages.