An evaluation of software product metrics

Abstract The study of quantitative aspects of software engineering can be divided into measurements that relate to the process of engineering software and those that relate to the software engineering product. This paper deals with the latter. Some of the most well known and some of the most promising metrics are reviewed. Well known metrics include the code metrics of Halstead and McCabe; however, code metrics suffer from a number of inherent limitations. The more promising but relatively unexplored fields of design and specification metrics are outlined. The paper concludes with some speculative remarks concerning the future of product metrics.

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