Software metrics : a rigorous and practical approach

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Software metrics : a rigorous and practical approach

Norman E. Fenton and Shari Lawrence Pfleeger

PWS Pub. Co. , International Thomson Computer Press, c1997

2nd ed

  • us
  • uk

Available at  / 7 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. [563]-622

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

us ISBN 9780534956004

Description

The first book to provide a coherent and rigorous framework for controlling, managing, and predicting various aspects of software development processes. Fenton and Pfleeger apply basic ideas in measurement theory to quantify software development resources, processes, and products. Essentially, the methods presented in the book can be used to measure and predict the costs and productivity of software projects. The second edition includes recent advances in the practice of software metrics.
Volume

uk ISBN 9781850322757

Description

This edition, updated to take account of the fast changing developments in software metrics, provides an accessible introduction to software metrics. It includes a discussion of process maturity and measurement, goal-question-metric, metrics plans, experimentation, empirical studies, object-oriented metrics and metrics tools. In this volume, the authors aim is to provide a framework for software metrics with greater emphasis placed on its practical applications. The framework is based on two simple concepts, namely a rigorous approach to measurement extracted from basic ideas in measurement theory and a classification of the entities of interest in software development in terms of products, processes and resources. Part One provides the reader with a basic understanding of why and how we measure. Thus, it examines and explains the fundamentals of measurement, experimentation and data collection and analysis. Part Two explores software engineering measurement in greater detail, with information about a range of specific metrics and their uses, backed up by a range of examples and case studies. Part Three offers a management perspective on software measurement, explaining current practices and looking ahead to future developments.

Table of Contents

  • Measurement: What it is and why we do it: Measurement in everyday life
  • Measurement in software engineering
  • Scope of software metrics. Summary. Exercises.The basics of measurement: Learning Objectives
  • Key Terms and Concepts
  • The Representational Theory of Measurement
  • Measurement of Scales. Meaningfulness in Measurement. Exercises. Further Reading. A framework for software measurement: Classifying Software Measures
  • Resources
  • Determining What to Measure
  • Care in Measuring
  • Applying the Framework
  • Real Metrics
  • Software Measurement Validation
  • Validating Prediction Systems. How Validation has been Performed
  • How Not to Validate. Summary. Exercises
  • Further Reading. Investigative design and analysis: Choosing a Research Technique
  • Principles of Formal Experiments
  • Case Study Guidelines
  • Summary
  • Exercises
  • Further Reading. Software Metrics Data Collection: Introduction
  • What is good data?
  • How to Define the Data
  • How to Collect Data
  • When to Collect Data
  • How to Store and Extract Data
  • Summary
  • Further Reading
  • Exercises. Analysing software measurement data: Introduction
  • The Problem with Software Measurements
  • Robust Summary Statistics
  • Relationships between Attributes
  • More Advanced Methods
  • Further Reading
  • Exercises. Process Predications. Measuring Internal Product Attributes: Introduction
  • Problems with Measuring Software Size
  • Reuse
  • Functionality
  • Complexity of the Underlying Problem
  • Summary
  • Further Reading
  • Exercises. Measuring Internal Product Attributes: Control-flow Strucure
  • Modularity and Information Flow Attributes
  • Object-Oriented Metrics
  • Data Structure
  • General "Complexity" Measures
  • Summary
  • Exercises
  • Further Reading. Measuring external product attributes: Introduction
  • Measuring Software "Quality"
  • Usability
  • Maintainability
  • Summary
  • Further Reading
  • Exercises. Software Reliability: Measurement and Prediction: Introduction
  • Basics of Reliability Theory
  • The Software Reliability Problem
  • Parametric Reliability Growth Models
  • Predictive Accuracy
  • Recalibration of Software Reliability Growth Predictions
  • Importance of the Operational Environment
  • Summary
  • Further Reading
  • Exercises. Resource Measurement: Productivity. Resource Measurement: Terms and Tools. Planning a Metrics Programme. Measurement in Practice. Empirical Studies. General Exercises. Solutions.

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