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Metrics for quality and concurrency in object-based systems

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Annals of Software Engineering

Abstract

This paper defines metrics for object-based systems. A hierarchical, abstract representation of object-based software is presented, and is used to define programming-language-independent metrics formulas. Novel techniques are given for measuring information hiding, cohesion, encapsulation, coupling, “object-orientedness,” maintainability, and potential concurrency among and within objects. The metrics are useful for guiding design optimization. Additionally, the concurrency metrics are useful for guiding object distribution for execution on concurrent hardware platforms. A toolset that computes several of the metrics is also described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science and Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19015, 76019, Arlington, TX, USA

    Lonnie R. Welch

  2. New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA

    Mrinalini Lankala

  3. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, VA, USA

    William Farr

  4. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Dieter K. Hammer

Authors
  1. Lonnie R. Welch
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  2. Mrinalini Lankala
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  3. William Farr
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  4. Dieter K. Hammer
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Welch, L.R., Lankala, M., Farr, W. et al. Metrics for quality and concurrency in object-based systems. Ann Software Eng 2, 93–119 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02063807

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