A Tool for Measuring the Size, Structure and Complexity of Software

The problem addressed by this thesis is the need for a software measurement tool that enforces a uniform measurement algorithm on several programming languages. The introductory chapter discusses the concern for software measurement and provides background for the specific models and metrics that ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Versaw, Larry
Other Authors: Hammons, Charles B.
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: North Texas State University 1984
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc504028/
Description
Summary:The problem addressed by this thesis is the need for a software measurement tool that enforces a uniform measurement algorithm on several programming languages. The introductory chapter discusses the concern for software measurement and provides background for the specific models and metrics that are studied. A multilingual software measurement tool is then introduced, that analyzes programs written in Ada, C, Pascal, or PL/I, and quantifies over thirty different program attributes. Metrics computed by the program include McCabe's measure of cyclomatic complexity and Halstead's software science metrics. Some results and conclusions of preliminary data analysis, using the tool, are also given. The appendices contain exhaustive counting algorithms for obtaining the metrics in each language.