Modifying AFOTEC's (Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center's) Software Maintainability Evaluation Guidelines
Stephen K. Johnson · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · 1988
The purpose of this thesis was to survey automatable software maintainability metrics for inclusion in the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center's (AFOTEC's) software maintainability evaluations. This research was looking for metrics that would measure maintainability, could be automated, and would fit into existing guidelines. First, a set of software complexity metrics was investigated. Then, a set of criteria to determine if a complexity metric measures maintainability was developed. After comparing the metrics to the criteria, a subset of two metrics that met the criteria better than any other metrics was derived. The software complexity metrics evaluated were placed into three categories: size metrics, structure metrics, and hybrid metrics. The structure metrics include both dat structure and control structure metrics. The hybrid metrics include metrics blended from two of the other groups, such as a combination of size and structure metrics. The metric selection criteria included three categories: general applicability criteria, control flow complexity criteria, and data flow complexity criteria. An assumption was made that the metric or combination of metrics that met the most of these criteria would best reflect software maintainability.