Exploring software science relations in cobol and api
S.H. Zweben, Kin-Chee Fung · 2005
Previous work in developing metrics of computer software using the methodology of Software Science has concentrated on relatively few program ming languages. More specifically, the experimental work has centered on programs written in Fortran, PL/I and Algol. While the results to date have provided the encouragement of further research in this direction, the apparent generality of the results mandates a study of other languages, par ticularly those whith substantially different characteristics and/or application areas than the similar, scientifically oriented languages of the previous work. This study concentrates on two such languages, namely COBOL and APL. The COBOL study contains programs obtained from an experiment given in an undergraduate pro gramming course, involving the relationship of Software Science metrics with programming time. The APL study contains twenty-nine programs obtained from several programming textbooks. Counting strategies for each language are described, main taining as much consistency with earlier Software Science work as possible. The results generally indicate continued high correlation among observed and predicted quantities. However, some problems remain in applying Software Science formulas to APL and COBOL, and their observed effects on our statis tical measures are discussed.