A Multi-Layer Metrics Combination Model for Reusable Software Components

Software reuse is an important approach to increase software quality and productivity. There are many factors may affect the result of software reuse, however, software component extraction is one of the most important and influential factors. Defining a perfect software reuse metric is a necessary condition for identify high reusable software components and retrieve the more suitable candidate components. In this paper, we propose a multi-layer metrics combination model for reusable component extraction. In this model, each layer combination can apply different linear combination models for specific purpose. This feature provides high flexibility to adjust the weighting value of combination model and high capability to improve measurement of reusable software component. Based on the multi-layer metrics combination model, we also can create a qualification threshold for extracting the reusable software component and defining a ranking schema for candidate components in component retrieval.