Improvements to a complexity metric: CB measure

Abstract

Controlling the complexity of software applications is an essential part of the software development process as it directly affects maintenance activities such as reusability, understandability, modifiability and testability. However, as stated by Tom DeMarco "You cannot control what you cannot measure". Thus, over the years many complexity metrics have been proposed with the intention of controlling and minimizing the complexity associated with software. However, majority of these proposed complexity metrics are based on only one aspect of complexity. The CB measure introduced by Chhillar and Bhasin is one metric which relies on a number of complexity factors to decide on the complexity of a program. However, italso has some shortcomings and can be further improved. Thus, this paper attempts to propose some additional complexity factors that the CB measure has not considered, to further improve it. The paper also presents an extensive coverage about the software complexity metrics proposed in the literature.

Enhancements to an OO Metric: CB Measure

“…It considers the complexity that arises due to inheritance level of statements, type and nesting level of control structures and size of the program. In a previous study [9] authors propose some other factors that could be considered by the CB measure to make its complexity calculation more accurate. This paper demonstrates how those factors can be accommodated to the CB measure.…”

“…However, there exists some other factors that could be considered by the CB measure to make it a more practically applicable measure. A previous study proposed some of such factors that could be incorporated to the CB measure [9]. This study demonstrates how those factors can be incorporated to the CB measure.…”

“…In a previous work [9], the authors presented additional factors that could be considered by the CB measure to make its complexity calculation more accurate. The present paper demonstrates how the CB measure can be modified to incorporate those factors.…”