http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
design methodology and support environment for complexity metrics via reusable software parts
The objective of the research is the design of a system of reusable software parts which can be utilized as kernel primitives in constructing prototype software metrics. A methodology for designing an automatable set of elementary measures or primitive constructs is first defined. Primitives designed through this methodology are used to develop a library of reusable software parts for implementation of composite or hybrid software metric prototypes. In this research, the primitives are implemented in the Ada programming language which was developed at the initiative of the United States Department of Defense. A software support environment to aid development of software complexity prototypes from the reusable software library is also designed in order to enhance the feasibility of the approach. A domain analysis of software complexity metrics served to define basic operations or functional primitives common to complexity metric definitions. Twenty-two representative software complexity metrics were analyzed to determine common measurements or functions between the various metrics. In addition, basic data structures such as stacks, queues, and linked lists that were needed by the kernel primitives were also identified. A kernel set of metric primitives was defined from this analysis. Generic Ada packages were designed to implement the defined structures and the operations necessary for their manipulation. A partial implementation of selected kernel primitives was completed on NYU Ada/Ed version 1.41. The delineated functions compose a reusable software library. Primitives in this library are used in the development of software complexity metrics utilized in the coding phase of the software life cycle. A sample metric, McCabe's Cyclomatic Complexity Measure, was constructed from the kernel primitives to illustrate the feasibility of implementing software metrics via reusable software parts. The system provides an attractive research environment for software metric studies. Reusability aspects of the design and partial implementation support development of rapid prototypes. The Ada language was useful in providing constructs to facilitate implementation of the reusable software parts...
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-128).