Abstract
Software reuse is an important new technology with the potential to increase software productivity dramatically. While software reuse is possible at each stage of the software life-cycle, code reuse could offer benefits in terms of reduced development time. This paper examines the nature of reusable code, focusing on measures of understandability of code, the assumption that code which is easy to understand is more likely to be reused. Software metrics for measuring understandability are examined. A selection of promising measures are combined using fuzzy set theory to propose a method of assessing the degree of reusability of structured source code written in conventional, imperative programming languages.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Gill, G.K., and Kemerer, C.F. ”Cyclomatic complexity density and software maintenance productivity.” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-17 (12): 1284–1288, December 1991.
Gordon, R.D., ”Measuring improvements in program clarity” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-5 (2,): 79–90, March 1979.
Griss, M., ”Software reuse: from library to factory,” IBM Systems Journal, 32(4):1–23, November 1993.
Halstead, M.H.,”Elements of software science,” New York: Elsevier North-Holland, Inc., 1977.
Harrison, W.A., and Magel, K.I.,”A complexity measure based on nesting level,” ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 16 (3): 63–74, March 1981.
Harrison, W., et al., ”Applying software complexity metrics to program maintenance,”, Computer September 1982: 65–79.
Horowitz, E., and Munson, J., ”An expansive view of reusable software,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-10 (5): 477–482, September 1984.
Li, H.F., and Cheung, W.K., ”An empirical study of software metrics,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-13 (6): 697–708, June 1987.
Love, T., ”An experimental investigation of the effects of program structure on program understanding,” ACM SIGPLAN Notices12: 105–113, March 1977.
McCabe, T., ”A complexity measure,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-2 (4): 308–320, December 1976.
Prieto-Diaz, R., and Freeman, P., ”Classifying software for reusability,” IEEE Software, January 1987: 6–16.
Withrow, C., ”Error density and size in Ada software,” IEEE Software January 1990: 26–30.
Zadeh, L.A., ”Making computers think like people,” IEEE Spectrum 21 (8): 26–32, August 1984.
Balentine, B., and Zand, M., ”Fuzzy Set theory and Reusability Metrics,” Technical Report TR-CS-93-6, UNO 1993.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Balentine, B.J., Zand, M.K., Samadzadeh, M.H. (1995). Hybrid fuzzy metrics for software reusability. In: Bouchon-Meunier, B., Yager, R.R., Zadeh, L.A. (eds) Advances in Intelligent Computing — IPMU '94. IPMU 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 945. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0035985
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0035985
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-60116-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49443-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive