Source code metrics: A systematic mapping study

Abstract

Source code metrics are essential components in the software measurement process. They are extracted from the source code of the software, and their values allow us to reach conclusions about the quality attributes measured by the metrics. This paper aims to collect source code metrics related studies, review them, and perform an analysis, while providing an overview on the current state of source code metrics and their current trends. A systematic mapping study was conducted. A total of 226 studies, published between the years 2010 and 2015, were selected and analyzed. Almost 300 source code metrics were found. Object oriented programming is the most commonly studied paradigm with the Chidamber and Kemerer metrics, lines of code, McCabe's cyclomatic complexity, and number of methods and attributes being the most used metrics. Research on aspect and feature oriented programming is growing, especially for the current interest in programming concerns and software product lines. Object oriented metrics have gained much attention, but there is a current need for more studies on aspect and feature oriented metrics. Software fault prediction, complexity and quality assessment are recurrent topics, while concerns, big scale software and software product lines represent current trends.