Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Semantic metrics for software products

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Like all engineering disciplines, software engineering relies on quantitative analysis to support rationalized decision making. Software engineering researchers and practitioners have traditionally relied on software metrics to quantify attributes of software products and processes. Whereas traditional software metrics are typically based on a syntactic analysis of software products, we introduce and discuss metrics that are based on a semantic analysis: our metrics do not reflect the form or structure of software products, but rather the properties of their function. At a time when software systems grow increasingly large and complex, the focus on diagnosing, identifying and removing every fault in the software product ought to relinquish the stage to a more measured, more balanced, and more realistic approach, which emphasizes failure avoidance, in addition to fault avoidance and fault removal. Semantic metrics are a good fit for this purpose, reflecting as they do a system’s ability to avoid failure rather than its proneness to being free of faults.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Abraham JA, Siewiorek DP (1974) An algorithm for the accurate reliability evaluation of triple modular redundancy networks. IEEE Trans Comput C–23(7):682–692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Abran A (2012) Software metrics and software metrology. Hoboken, NJ

  3. Bansyia J, Davis C, Etzkorn L (1999) An entropy based complexity measure for object oriented designs. Theory Pract Object Syst 5(2):1–9

  4. Boudriga N, Mili A, Zalila R (1992) An automated tool for specification validation: Design and preliminary implementation. In: Proceedings, Hawaii international conference on system sciences, Kauai, pp 74–82, Jan 1992

  5. Brink C, Kahl W, Schmidt G (1997) Relational mathematics in computer science. Advances in computer science. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Csiszar I, Koerner J (2011) Information theory: coding theorems for discrete memoryless systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

  7. Christof E, Reiner D (2007) Software measurement: establish, extract, evaluate, execute. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg

  8. Etzkorn LH, Gholston S (2002) A semantic entropy metric. J Softw Maint Evol Res Pract 14:293–310

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Fenton NE, Pfleeger SL (1997) Software metrics: a rigorous and practical approach. PWS Publishing Company, Boston MA

  10. Gall CS, Lukins S, Etzkorn L, Gholston L, Farrington P, Utley D, Fortune J, Virani S (2008) Semantic software metrics computed from natural language design specifications. IET Softw 2(1) 17–26

  11. Halstead MH (1977) Elements of software science. North Holland, Amsterdam

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  12. Hehner ECR (2003) Quantifying redundancy. Private correspondence

  13. Laprie JC (1995) Dependability—its attributes, impairments and means. Randell B, Laprie JC, Kopetz H, Littlewood B (eds) Predictably dependable computing systems. Springer, pp 1–19

  14. Mashiko Y, Basili VR (1997) Using the gqm paradigm to investigate influential factors for software process improvement. J Syst Softw 36:17–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Mili A, Aharon S, Nadkarni CH (2009) Mathematics for reasoning about loop. Sci Comput Program 74:(11–12)989–1020

  16. Morell L, Murill B (1993) Semantic metrics through error flow analysis. J Syst Softw 20(3):207–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Morell LJ, Voas JM (1993) framework for defining semantic metrics. J Syst Softw 20(3):245–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Mraihi O, Louhichi A, Jilani LL, Desharnais J, Mili A (2012) Invariant assertions, invariant relations, and invariant functions. Sci Comput Program. DOI:10.1016/j.scico.2012.05.006

  19. Northrop L, Feiler P, Gabriel RP, Goodenough J, Linger R, Longstaff T, Kazman R, Klein M, Schmidt D, Sullivan K, Wallnau K (2006) Ultra large scale systems: the software challenge of the future. Software Engineering Institute, July 2006

  20. Patterson D, Fox A (2005) Recovery oriented computing—an overview. Technical report, University of California at Berkeley. http://roc.cs.berkeley.edu/roc_overview.html

  21. Voas JM, Mille K (1993) Semantic metrics for software testability. J Syst Softw 20(3):207–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This publication was made possible by a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund NPRP04-1109-1-174. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the QNRF.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computer Science, NJIT, Newark, NJ , 07102-1982, USA

    A. Mili

  2. Department of Computer Science, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    A. Jaoua

  3. Department of Software Engineering, Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. Frias

  4. College of Engineering, SUST, Khartoum, Sudan

    Rasha Gaffer Mohamed Helali

Authors
  1. A. Mili
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Jaoua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Frias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rasha Gaffer Mohamed Helali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Mili.

Additional information

Une Science a l’Age de ses Instruments de Mesure. A Science is as Advanced as its Instruments of Measurement. Gaston Bachelard, 1884–1962.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mili, A., Jaoua, A., Frias, M. et al. Semantic metrics for software products. Innovations Syst Softw Eng 10, 203–217 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11334-014-0233-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11334-014-0233-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation