Assessing the quality of programs: a topic for the CS2 course

ABSTRACT

Measuring the quality of programs is commonly discussed at widespread intervals in the computer science curriculum. Because discussions of quality are fragmented, the students do not develop a set of criteria by which they can evaluate the quality of a program. Since an assessment of quality must depend on the specifications that are set forth before the programming begins, it is important for students to be aware of the various criteria by which a program can be evaluated. Various measures of quality can be introduced in the CS2 course. These include evaluating the utilization of resources by a program, evaluating the correctness of the program and examining various human factors associated with program development and maintenance. Students should be provided with activities which allow them to explore and practice using thecriteria for evaluation in each context. Ultimately the development of skills in evaluating program quality will make students more effective programmers.

REFERENCES

• 1: Curtis, B. et. al., "Measuring the Psychological Complexity of Software Maintenance Tasks with the Halstead and McCabe Metrics", IEEE Transactions On Software Engineerinq, vol SE-5, no 2, (June 1979) pp 96-104.
• 2: DeMarco, T., Controllinq Sof~ware Projects Yourdon Press, New York, NY, 1982.
• 3: Maurice H. Halstead, Elements of Software Science (Operating and programming systems series), Elsevier Science Inc., New York, NY, 1977
• 4: Bill Hetzel, The complete guide to software testing (2nd ed.), QED Information Sciences, Inc., Wellesley, MA, 1988
• 5: McCabe, T., "A Complexity Measure" IEEE Transactions on Software Enqineerinq, vol SE-2, no 4, (Dec 1977) pp 308-320.
• 6: Glenford J. Myers, Art of Software Testing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1979
• 7: Meilir Page-Jones, The practical guide to structured systems design: 2nd edition, Yourdon Press, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1988
• 8: Takeshi Sunohara , Akira Takano , Kenji Uehara , Tsutomu Ohkawa, Program complexity measure for software development management, Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Software engineering, p.100-106, March 09-12, 1981, San Diego, California, United States
• 9: Edward Yourdon, Structured walkthroughs: 4th edition, Yourdon Press, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1989

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.9 Management
          Subjects: Software quality assurance (SQA)

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Curriculum

General Terms:
Human Factors, Management, Measurement, Performance