An empirical validation of complexity profile graph

Authors:
Jeong Yang;T. Dean Hendrix;Kai H. Chang;David Umphress
Affiliations:
Auburn University, AL;Auburn University, AL;Auburn University, AL;Auburn University, AL
Venue:
Proceedings of the 43rd annual Southeast regional conference - Volume 1
Year:
2005

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of an empirical study carried out to investigate if the complexity profile graph (CPG) is related with one of the predicators of software complexity measures, such as response time and error rate, and thus could be used as a valid indicator of program comprehensibility. Lower and upper division computer science and software engineering students were asked to respond to questions regarding the execution of a source code module written in JAVA and understanding the fundamental goal of each part of the source code. The response time for each question and the correctness of each response were recorded. The statistical analysis of the experimental data reports that there is a positive linear correlation between the CPG and the time taken to respond correctly to each question. In addition, the paper discusses if there is any effect of the control structure diagram (CSD) on measuring the difficulty of program comprehensibility.