Using early stage project data to predict change-proneness

Abstract

Several previous studies have suggested methods for predicting change-proneness based on software complexity metrics. We hypothesise that data from the early stages of a development project such as requirements and design could also be used to make such predictions. We define here a set of new metrics to capture data from the requirements and/or design stages, and derive values for these metrics using a case study project. We do find that significant differences in change-proneness can be detected between components with high or with low values for our metrics, suggesting that this is an area which would benefit from further study.

Change-Proneness of Software Components

“…Some of the case studies been carried out for linking change-proneness and complexity so as to know if ay correlation exists between change-proneness and metrics. It is difficult to determine how far an individual study can be generalized, so Claire Ingram has suggested techniques (linear regression) relies on developing an accurate method for predicting change-proneness [1]. Subversion2 project from CARMEN system was used to obtain the list of code files which was representative of datasets.…”