Evaluation of Software Quality in Test-driven Development: A Perspective of Measurement and Metrics

Abstract

A software product is expected to be subjected to critical evaluation on its quality attributes in order to ascertain that target quality requirements are met, and that those quality attributes responsible for revealing software quality are not omitted in the software development process. Software metrics are essential to accomplish the task. This paper has carried out an exploratory study of software measurement and software metrics in tandem. The study took into cognizance the interwoven nature of the duo in measuring and revealing software quality. The study formulated a model that expressed the mutual bonding that propels both measurement and metrics to describing software quality in numeric quantities of software attributes. The study identified six software attributes whose values are considered enough quantities to reveal the quality of a software product. The identification enabled the study to create a model equation aimed at giving a numeric value for the complete evaluation of a software system. The result of the implementation of the six software attributes into the model equation showed that two software products employed in the study are of high-quality, having quality values of 0.93 and 0.86 respectively. The attributes produced values that confirmed the maintainability (25 seconds & 20 seconds respectively) and reliability (0.78 & 0.80 respectively) of both software products among other differing features that characterize them.