Measuring Z specifications

Abstract

Software metrics are useful quantitative indicators to assess and predict software quality attributes; a commonly measured attribute is software complexity. The main drawbacks are: they can only be calculated after a major development effort has been committed to produce the source codes; they cannot provide early feedback during the specification phase; and subsequently it is expensive to make changes to the system, if so indicated by the metrics. To date, there is hardly any work done on measuring the complexity of a system early in its specification phase. In this paper, we describe how the complexity of a Z specification can be measured. We also found that there is a significant correlation between the specification metrics proposed and the widely adopted OO metrics, thus demonstrating that our proposed metrics are a reliable means of measuring the system early in the specification phase.

A Framework for the Pragmatic Quality of Z Specifications

“…Although the efforts in measuring specifications in general are well-known, results of measuring Z specifications are limited [23,40,41]. Length [21] is one of the attributes by which we can describe the size of Z specifications.…”

Mengukur Paras Kesahsahihan Spesifikasi Z Dalam Penilaian Spesifikasi Keperluan Pelajar Melalui Pendekatan Pelaksanaan Bersimbol

“…Walaupun terdapat teknik untuk mengesahsahihkan spesifikasi, tidak terdapat perbincangan berkenaan pengukuran paras kesahsahihan suatu spesifikasi dalam kajian mereka. Namun begitu, pengukuran spesifikasi formal dari aspek kompleksiti ada disyorkan oleh Zarina [10] dan Wu & Yi [11], iaitu dengan menggunakan metrik perisian sedia ada yang diubah suai. Manakala Huang & Lai [12] mengesyorkan pengukuran kebolehsenggaraan protokol komunikasi dengan mendapatkan metrik kebolehsenggaraan daripada spesifikasi formal protokol tersebut.…”