Experience Using an Automated Metrics Framework in the Review of Ada Source for WIS
Jon-Paul Anderson, J. A. Perkins · 1988
Analysis of the WIS Ada source code involved applying an automated, hier- archical, Ada-specific software metrics framework to approximately 200,000 lines of Air Force-supplied Ada source. The purpose of the analysis was to aid the Air Force inidentification of the char- acteristics of the code that detract unnecessarily from reliability, maintain- ability, and portability. The software was analyzed during the initial phase of code development to insure that sufficient time would be allotted for the elimination of undesired characteristics. DRC's Ada metrics framework measures three software factors, six software criteria, and 150 software metric elements, vhere each metric element relates a software quality principle to the use of specific features of the Ada language. The analysis of the Air Force-supplied Ada source involved: 1) automated calculation of metric scores for the supplied source, 2) human analysis of the metric scores to determine those characteristics that augment or attenuate quality and to formulate recommendations on how to enhance quality, 3} modification of two modules of the supplied source to illustrate the impact of our recom- mendations, and 4) reporting of the findings to the Air Force.