Abstract
As software becomes more and more complex due to increased number of module size, procedure size, and branching complexity, software maintenance costs are often on the increase. Consider a software such as Windows 2000 operating systems with over 29 million lines of code (LOC), 480,000 pages if printed, a stack of paper 161 feet high, estimate of 63,000 bugs in the software when it was first released [1] and with over 1000 developers, there is no doubt that such a large and complex software will require large amount of money (in US Dollars), social and environmental factors to maintain it. It has been estimated that over 70% of the total costs of software development process is expended on maintenance after the software has been delivered. This paper studies the relationship between software complexity and maintenance cost, the factors responsible for software complexity and why maintenance costs increase with software complexity. Some data collected on Windows, Debian Linux, and Linux Kernel operating systems were used. The results of our findings show that there is a strong correlation between software complexity and maintenance costs. That is, as lines of code increase, the software becomes more complex and more bugs may be introduced, and hence the cost of maintaining software increases.
Highlights
There is no doubt that software is becoming increasingly complex due to technological development, organizational demand, need for ease of use, etc
Larger and complex software projects require significant management control. They introduce challenges as complex software systems are a crucial part of the organization
The maintenance of large software systems requires a large number of employees
Summary
There is no doubt that software is becoming increasingly complex due to technological development, organizational demand, need for ease of use, etc. As noted in [2], the demand for complex hardware/software system has increased more rapidly than the ability to design, implement, test, and maintain them. The costs of maintaining the Windows operating system have increased due to the increase in human effort needed to develop and maintain it as it evolves from one version to the This case is not peculiar to only Windows operating system but to all other software that are in use especially those in high demand such as application software since software must evolve from time to time in order to meet customer’s needs [4]. The estimated costs of software maintenance are high enough to justify strong efforts on the part of software managers to monitor and control complexity. Management must find ways to reduce the costs of software maintenance by ensuring that the right people are employed to maintain them to avoid more complication of the software
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