An Evaluation of a Language Processor for an African Native Language-based Programming Language

Abstract

The design and prototype implementation of a subset of an African indigenous language-based programming language has been carried out and reported. In this study, an evaluation of the processor developed for the native language-based programming language was carried out in order to assess its level of conformance to the characteristics required of a good software product as set by the international organization for standardization (ISO). The developed language processor was evaluated using some metrics for evaluating the quality of software systems including structural and time complexity. A usability test was also conducted to assess users’ perception of the system concerning its relevance and ease of use. The result of system evaluation indicated that the system contains 1558 lines of code, its cyclomatic complexity is 14 and its asymptotic time complexity is of order big oh O (n3), where n is the size of the input to the system. Over 86% of the participants in the usability test attested to the system’s relevance while the usability rating was 86%. The developed system can be inferred to be of good quality as the results of its evaluation are positively on the high side for satisfying most of the ISO criteria for adjudging a software product as being of good quality. Furthermore, the high usability rating for the system indicates that the programming language whose compiler was evaluated satisfies most of the criteria set by the Department of Defense (DOD) for assessing the ‘goodness’ or otherwise of a programming language.