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Design complexity measurement and testing
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Communications of the ACM archive
Volume 32 ,  Issue 12  (December 1989) table of contents
Pages: 1415 - 1425  
Year of Publication: 1989
ISSN:0001-0782
Authors
Thomas J. McCabe  McCabe and Associates, Columbia, MD
Charles W. Butler  Texas A&M Univ., College Station
Publisher
ACM  New York, NY, USA
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Downloads (6 Weeks): 26,   Downloads (12 Months): 300,   Citation Count: 45
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ABSTRACT

System designers can quantify the complexity of a software design by using a trio of finely tuned design metrics.


REFERENCES

Note: OCR errors may be found in this Reference List extracted from the full text article. ACM has opted to expose the complete List rather than only correct and linked references.

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Albrecht. A.J. Function points help managers assess applications. Computerworld (Aug. 26, 1985), SR20-SR21.
 
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Butler, C.W., Hodil, E.D., and Richardson, G.L. Knowledge-based systems in the commercial environment. IBM Syst. J. 25, 2 {1986), 47.
 
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Butler, C.W., Hodil, E.D., and Richardson, G.L. Applying expert systems technology to software maintenance. In Proceedings of the 1987 Conference on Software Maintenance (May 1987).
 
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Curtis, B.. Sheppard, S.B.. Milliman, P., Borst, M.A., and Love, T. Predicting performance on software maintenance tasks with the Halstead and McCabe metrics. IEEE Trans. Soflw. Eng., 5 (1979}, 95-104.
 
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Elshoff, }.L. The PEEK Measurement Program. Res. Pub. GMR-4208, General Motors Research Labs, Warren, Mich. (Nov. 15, 1982}, 18.
 
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Elshoff, }.L. Characteristic program complexity measures. Res. Pub. GMR-4446. General Motors Research Labs, Warren, Mich. (Dec. 5, 1983), 2.
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McCabe, T.J. A complexity measure. IEEE Trans. Soflw. Eng. SE-2, 4 (Dec. 1976), 308.
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Petschenik, N.H. Practical priorities in system testing. IEEE Trans. Soflw. Eng. (Sept. 1985), 18-23.
 
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Sheppard, S.B., and Kruesi, E. The effects of the symbology and spatial arrangement of software specifications in a coding task. Tech. Rep. TR-81-388200-3. General Electric Company, Arlington, VA, 1981.
 
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"Structured Testing: A Software Testing Methodology Using the Cycjomatic Complexity Metric," National Bureau of Standards Special Publication No. 500-99, December 1982.
 
21
Walsh. T.J. Software reliability study using a complexity measure. In Proceedings of the National Computer Conference. New York: AFIPS, 1979.

CITED BY  45


REVIEW

"Kenneth I. Magel : Reviewer"

The authors extend the ideas McCabe pioneered in the mid-1970s as the cyclomatic complexity metric for program code to the treatment of software design complexity. They apply McCabe's program testing procedure, based on cyclomatic complexity,   more...

Collaborative Colleagues:
Thomas J. McCabe: colleagues
Charles W. Butler: colleagues