Title :
Measuring graph abstractions of software: an information-theory approach
Author :
Allen, Edward B.
Author_Institution :
Mississippi State Univ., MS, USA
Abstract :
A graph composed of nodes and edges may be an abstraction of a software system and a subgraph may represent a software module. Software-design graphs depict components and their relationships. Building on prior work by E.B. Allen, T.M. Khoshgoftaar and Y. Chen (2001), this paper proposes information theory-based measures on graphs at the system and module levels for application to software. We propose measures of size, length, complexity, coupling and cohesion which largely conform to the properties of these attributes defined by L.C. Briand, S. Morasca and V.R. Basili (1996, 1997). We illustrate the measures with examples and suggest extensions for hypergraphs
Keywords :
graph theory; information theory; software metrics; subroutines; excess entropy; graph abstraction measurement; graph edges; graph nodes; hypergraphs; information theory; measurement theory; module cohesion; module complexity; module coupling; module length; module size; software component relationships; software design graphs; software metrics; software modules; software system abstractions; subgraphs; Software measurement; Software metrics;
Conference_Titel :
Software Metrics, 2002. Proceedings. Eighth IEEE Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Ottawa, Ont.
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-1339-5
DOI :
10.1109/METRIC.2002.1011337
