Component-based Software System Dependency Metrics based on Component Information Flow Measurements

The motivation of this paper is that the measurement based on the flow of information connecting software components can be used to evaluate component-based software system dependency. The ability to measure system dependency implies the capability to locate weakness in the system design and to determine the level of software quality. In this paper, dependency between components is considered as a major factor affecting the structural design of Component-based software System (CBSS). Two sets of metrics namely, Component Information Flow Metrics and Component Coupling Metrics are proposed based on the concept of Component Information Flow from CBSS designer’s point of view. We also discuss the motivation for and possible uses of system level metrics and component level metrics. Initial results from our on-going empirical evaluation indicate that the proposed metrics are very intuitive. Keywords-Component-based software system; Software metric; Dependency; Information flow.

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