Modelling of software development effort for the fourth generation environment
Vijay Kanabar · Mspace (University of Manitoba) · 1992
This thesis deals with the topic of estimating software development effort when fourth generation tools (4GTs) such as form and report generators are used. Traditional predictors or cost models are inadequate for measuring and estimating development effort involving 4GTs. Such traditional predictors or models are more oriented towards measuring manual coding than towards specification-oriented coding. An innovative predictor called specification element (SE), embedded in a 4GT Model, is introduced here to measure application development effort using 4GTs. SEs are associated with data and screen field elements for purposes of effort estimation. Knowledge-based techniques are used to refine effort estimates provided by the 4GT Model for the influence of project factors such as developer experience and familiarity with tools.