Validation Of Software Metrics Research Articles

Empirical validation of object-oriented metrics on cross-projects with different severity levels

An object-oriented (OO) metrics has become crucial desideratum for software effort and fault predictions. To strengthen the adequacy of object-oriented metrics, it becomes important to know relationship between OO metrics and fault proneness at different levels of severity. It is inconceivable to build model of accurate estimate due to the inherent uncertainty in development projects. Empirical validation of software metrics is essential issue to determine applicability of prediction model. In this study, empirical validation is done on OO metrics given by Chidamber and Kemerer (CK suite) for predicting faults at different severity levels. This paper also instanced on defect prediction using cross-projects (CP) because of the unpredictability in selection of software attributes by analogy-based approach that deliver imprecise and ambiguous solution. This paper depicts detection of fault-proneness by extracting the relevant OO metrics and such models helps to focus on fault-prone modules of new projects by allocating more resources to them with use of regression and other machine learning methods. Combination of CP data with regression techniques improves effectiveness of prediction by extracting similar features impacted by all datasets.

Empirical validation of object-oriented metrics on cross-projects with different severity levels

An object-oriented (OO) metrics has become crucial desideratum for software effort and fault predictions. To strengthen the adequacy of object-oriented metrics, it becomes important to know relationship between OO metrics and fault proneness at different levels of severity. It is inconceivable to build model of accurate estimate due to the inherent uncertainty in development projects. Empirical validation of software metrics is essential issue to determine applicability of prediction model. In this study, empirical validation is done on OO metrics given by Chidamber and Kemerer (CK suite) for predicting faults at different severity levels. This paper also instanced on defect prediction using cross-projects (CP) because of the unpredictability in selection of software attributes by analogy-based approach that deliver imprecise and ambiguous solution. This paper depicts detection of fault-proneness by extracting the relevant OO metrics and such models helps to focus on fault-prone modules of new projects by allocating more resources to them with use of regression and other machine learning methods. Combination of CP data with regression techniques improves effectiveness of prediction by extracting similar features impacted by all datasets.

State-of-the-Art in Empirical Validation of Software Metrics for Fault Proneness Prediction: Systematic Review

With the sharp rise in software dependability and failure cost, high quality has been in great demand. However, guaranteeing high quality in software systems which have grown in size and complexity coupled with the constraints imposed on their development has become increasingly difficult, time and resource consuming activity. Consequently, it becomes inevitable to deliver software that have no serious faults. In this case, object-oriented (OO) products being the de facto standard of software development with their unique features could have some faults that are hard to find or pinpoint the impacts of changes. The earlier faults are identified, found and fixed, the lesser the costs and the higher the quality. To assess product quality, software metrics are used. Many OO metrics have been proposed and developed. Furthermore, many empirical studies have validated metrics and class fault proneness (FP) relationship. The challenge is which metrics are related to class FP and what activities are performed. Therefore, this study bring together the state-of-the-art in fault prediction of FP that utilizes CK and size metrics. We conducted a systematic literature review over relevant published empirical validation articles. The results obtained are analysed and presented. It indicates that 29 relevant empirical studies exist and measures such as complexity, coupling and size were found to be strongly related to FP.

Software Metrics Validation Methodologies in Software Engineering

In the software measurement validations, assessing the validation of software metrics in software engineering is a very difficult task due to lack of theoretical methodology and empirical methodology [41, 44, 45]. During recent years, there have been a number of researchers addressing the issue of validating software metrics. At present, software metrics are validated theoretically using properties of measures. Further, software measurement plays an important role in understanding and controlling software development practices and products. The major requirement in software measurement is that the measures must represent accurately those attributes they purport to quantify and validation is critical to the success of software measurement. Normally, validation is a collection of analysis and testing activities across the full life cycle and complements the efforts of other quality engineering functions and validation is a critical task in any engineering project. Further, validation objective is to discover defects in a system and assess whether or not the system is useful and usable in operational situation. In the case of software engineering, validation is one of the software engineering disciplines that help build quality into software. The major objective of software validation process is to determine that the software performs its intended functions correctly and provides information about its quality and reliability. This paper discusses the validation methodology, techniques and different properties of measures that are used for software metrics validation. In most cases, theoretical and empirical validations are conducted for software metrics validations in software engineering [1-50].

Statistical and Machine Learning Methods for Software Fault Prediction Using CK Metric Suite: A Comparative Analysis

Experimental validation of software metrics in fault prediction for object-oriented methods using statistical and machine learning methods is necessary. By the process of validation the quality of software product in a software organization is ensured. Object-oriented metrics play a crucial role in predicting faults. This paper examines the application of linear regression, logistic regression, and artificial neural network methods for software fault prediction using Chidamber and Kemerer (CK) metrics. Here, fault is considered as dependent variable and CK metric suite as independent variables. Statistical methods such as linear regression, logistic regression, and machine learning methods such as neural network (and its different forms) are being applied for detecting faults associated with the classes. The comparison approach was applied for a case study, that is, Apache integration framework (AIF) version 1.6. The analysis highlights the significance of weighted method per class (WMC) metric for fault classification, and also the analysis shows that the hybrid approach of radial basis function network obtained better fault prediction rate when compared with other three neural network models.

Empirical validation of object-oriented metrics for predicting fault proneness at different severity levels using support vector machines

Empirical validation of software metrics to predict quality using machine learning methods is important to ensure their practical relevance in the software organizations. It would also be interesting to know the relationship between object-oriented metrics and fault proneness at different severity levels. In this paper, we build a Support vector machine (SVM) model to find the relationship between object-oriented metrics given by Chidamber and Kemerer and fault proneness, at different severity levels. The proposed models at different severity levels are empirically evaluated using public domain NASA data set. The performance of the SVM method was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Based on these results, it is reasonable to claim that such models could help for planning and performing testing by focusing resources on fault-prone parts of the design and code. The performance of the model predicted using high severity faults is low as compared to performance of the model predicted with respect to medium and low severity faults. Thus, the study shows that SVM method may also be used in constructing software quality models. However, similar types of studies are required to be carried out in order to establish the acceptability of the model.

Empirical validation of object-oriented metrics for predicting fault proneness models

Empirical validation of software metrics used to predict software quality attributes is important to ensure their practical relevance in software organizations. The aim of this work is to find the relation of object-oriented (OO) metrics with fault proneness at different severity levels of faults. For this purpose, different prediction models have been developed using regression and machine learning methods. We evaluate and compare the performance of these methods to find which method performs better at different severity levels of faults and empirically validate OO metrics given by Chidamber and Kemerer. The results of the empirical study are based on public domain NASA data set. The performance of the predicted models was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. The results show that the area under the curve (measured from the ROC analysis) of models predicted using high severity faults is low as compared with the area under the curve of the model predicted with respect to medium and low severity faults. However, the number of faults in the classes correctly classified by predicted models with respect to high severity faults is not low. This study also shows that the performance of machine learning methods is better than logistic regression method with respect to all the severities of faults. Based on the results, it is reasonable to claim that models targeted at different severity levels of faults could help for planning and executing testing by focusing resources on fault-prone parts of the design and code that are likely to cause serious failures.

Application of support vector machine to predict fault prone classes

Empirical validation of software metrics to predict quality using machine learning methods is important to ensure their practical relevance in the software organizations. It would also be interesting to know the relationship between object-oriented metrics and fault proneness. In this paper, we build a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model to find the relation-ship between object-oriented metrics given by Chidamber and Kemerer and fault proneness. The proposed model is empirically evaluated using open source software. The performance of the SVM method was evaluated by Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. Based on these results, it is reasonable to claim that such models could help for planning and performing testing by focusing resources on fault- prone parts of the design and code. Thus, the study shows that SVM method may also be used in constructing software quality models. However, similar types of studies are required to be carried out in order to establish the acceptability of the model.

Empirical Validation of Three Software Metrics Suites to Predict Fault-Proneness of Object-Oriented Classes Developed Using Highly Iterative or Agile Software Development Processes

Empirical validation of software metrics suites to predict fault proneness in object-oriented (OO) components is essential to ensure their practical use in industrial settings. In this paper, we empirically validate three OO metrics suites for their ability to predict software quality in terms of fault-proneness: the Chidamber and Kemerer (CK) metrics, Abreu's Metrics for Object-Oriented Design (MOOD), and Bansiya and Davis' Quality Metrics for Object-Oriented Design (QMOOD). Some CK class metrics have previously been shown to be good predictors of initial OO software quality. However, the other two suites have not been heavily validated except by their original proposers. Here, we explore the ability of these three metrics suites to predict fault-prone classes using defect data for six versions of Rhino, an open-source implementation of JavaScript written in Java. We conclude that the CK and QMOOD suites contain similar components and produce statistical models that are effective in detecting error-prone classes. We also conclude that the class components in the MOOD metrics suite are not good class fault-proneness predictors. Analyzing multivariate binary logistic regression models across six Rhino versions indicates these models may be useful in assessing quality in OO classes produced using modern highly iterative or agile software development processes.

An Experimental Replication With Data Warehouse Metrics

Data warehouses are large repositories that integrate data from several sources for analysis and decision support. Data warehouse quality is crucial, because a bad data warehouse design may lead to the rejection of the decision support system or may result in non-productive decisions. In the last years, we have been working on the definition and validation of software metrics in order to assure data warehouse quality. Some of the metrics are adapted directly from previous ones defined for relational databases, and others are specific for data warehouses. In this paper, we present part of the empirical work we have developed in order to know if the proposed metrics can be used as indicators of data warehouse quality. Previously, we have developed an experiment and its replication, and in this paper, we present the second replication we have made with the purpose of assessing data warehouse maintainability. As a result of the whole empirical work, we have obtained a subset of the proposed metrics that seem to be good indicators of data warehouse quality.