Metrics of Interest in an ADA Development

Abstract : The emergence of Ada provides the opportunity and necessity for measurement, analysis, and experimentation in software development. Over the past several months, we have been studying a software project developed in Ada. One of the goals of the study is to identify metrics which are useful for evaluating and predicting the complexity, quality, and cost of Ada programs. This reprint defines a set of metrics for use with software development in Ada. The metrics are gathered into six categories: effort, changes, dimension, langauge use, data use, and execution. They are described further using formula generators, distributions, and formulas. Examples of each metric, as well as specific uses, are also included. Finally, our continuing research in this area is described. (Author)