There are two popular approaches when developing a software system, the first being System Analysis/System Design (SA/SD) and the second being an Object-Oriented (00) approach. In either approach a poor design inevitably produces a poor application. Thus, being able to evaluate the quality of a systems design is advantageous.The Design Metrics Research Team at Ball State University has developed metrics that measure the quality of software systems. From this research the metric D(G) (a composite of the metrics De and D) has been shown to be very effective when used to determine fault prone modules in a system. However, D(G) has been primarily applied to systems developed using the SA/SD approach. This thesis translated D(G) to an 00 setting and empirically evaluated D(G) to determine if D(G) is a good predictor of error-prone classes. The results indicate that De and Di are indeed good predictors of error-prone classes. Of the classes highlighted by De, 67% had errors, while 100% of the classes highlighted by D; had errors. / Department of Computer Science

The Design Metrics Research Team at Ball State University has developed a quality design metric D(G), which consists of an internal design metric Di, and an external design metric De. This thesis discusses applying design metrics to the ROCC-Radar On-line Command Control project received from Harris Corporation. Thus, the main objective of this thesis is to analyze the behavior of D(G), and the primitive components of this metric.Error and change history reports are vital inputs to the validation of design metrics' performance. Since correct identification of types of changes/errors is critical for our evaluation, several different types of analyses were performed in an attempt to qualify the metric performance in each case.This thesis covers the analysis of 666 FORTRAN modules with approximately 142,296 lines of code. / Department of Computer Science

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-09-26T10:03:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Luzia Garcia.pdf: 1728152 bytes, checksum: c1e4abd23b03d56fee6d4551081665f1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-26T10:03:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Luzia Garcia.pdf: 1728152 bytes, checksum: c1e4abd23b03d56fee6d4551081665f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-14 / Information technology has been increasingly relevant in the process of teaching and learning. In this context, it was noticed the emergence and popularization of the Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT), being inserted in the daily education of children. Considering the need to choose a quality material to assist in the development of early childhood education, this work sought to describe criteria for the evaluation of educational applications, using as reference the ISO/IEC 25000 standard, which specifies the qualities of software products. In order to carry out this evaluation, some of the free educational applications most used by the schools of the Municipal Education Department of Guarulhos were chosen, applying a quantitative and qualitative questionnaire to some teachers of the Network that used such applications. It was verified that the evaluation of the applications under study provided a moment of reflection on the quality of such products, which, in turn, are of great importance in the construction of a quality pedagogical teaching in the development of the children education of this Municipality / A tecnologia da informação tem sido cada vez mais relevante no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Nesse contexto, percebeu-se o surgimento e a popularização das Tecnologias Digitais de Informação e Comunicação (TDIC), que estão sendo inseridas no cotidiano do ensino da Educação Infantil. Considerando a necessidade de escolher um material de qualidade para auxiliar no desenvolvimento da educação infantil, este trabalho buscou descrever critérios para avaliação de aplicativos educacionais, utilizando como referência a norma ISO/IEC 25000, que especifica as qualidades de produtos de software. Para a realização dessa avaliação, foram escolhidos alguns dos aplicativos educacionais livres mais utilizados pelas escolas da Secretaria de Educação Municipal de Guarulhos, aplicando-se um questionário quantitativo e qualitativo a alguns professores da Rede que utilizavam tais aplicativos. Constatou-se que a avaliação dos aplicativos em estudo proporcionou um momento de reflexão sobre a qualidade de tais produtos que, por sua vez, são de grande importância na construção de um ensino de qualidade no desenvolvimento da educação Infantil desse Município

This study aims to explore the decision-making criteria for requirements selection in market-driven software development projects in China. Requirements selection decisions are made by reconciling the conflicting stakeholders??? value propositions into a mutually-agreed set through the negotiation and communication process between stakeholders. Firstly, this study identified decision-making criteria according to different stakeholders??? value propositions, and then evaluated the importance of the criteria when making the decisions of requirements selection. Moreover, the study determined the degree to which the stakeholders from business, product, and project perspectives influence the decision-making process. Furthermore, the study explored the communication between major stakeholders in requirements selection process, as a foundation to support and guide the process. A Delphi survey was applied in this study. Opinions from experienced industrial experts were obtained to achieve reliable consensus among them on the criteria and relative importance of the criteria in requirements selection process. The Delphi survey in this study included four phases of data collection by a series of intensive questionnaires interspersed with controlled opinion feedback and follow-up interviews. 132 Experts from 11 companies were recruited by following the rigid procedure to ensure the validity and reliability of the research. The study indicated that criteria from the business perspective had a major influence on decision-making of requirements selection, while project- and product-perspective criteria were relatively lower in priority. However, there were some inconsistencies among the opinions of the recruited experts regarding the importance of the criteria. The inconsistencies may result from a number of different factors, for example; different software development projects; different size, culture, organizational structure or maturity level of the companies; or different working positions of the experts surveyed. In addition, the study found three different types of communication in requirements selection in the companies surveyed. Further, Chinese culture was believed to have effects on the communication process between stakeholders. While informal communication was highlighted in Chinese context, the Chinese culture of strictly hierarchical communication could lead to problems in the communication process. Further research is recommended to gain deeper insight into these issues.

The development of high quality software the first time, greatly depends upon the ability to judge the potential quality of the software early in the life cycle. The Software Engineering Research Center design metrics research team at Ball State University has developed a metrics approach for analyzing software designs. Given a design, these metrics highlight stress points and determine overall design quality.The purpose of this study is to analyze multiple software releases of the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) using design metrics. The focus is on examining the transformations of design metrics at each of three releases of AFATDS to determine the relationship of design metrics to the complexity and quality of a maturing system. The software selected as a test case for this research is the Human Interface code from Concept Evaluation Phase releases 2, 3, and 4 of AFATDS. To automate the metric collection process, a metric tool called the Design Metric Analyzer was developed.Further analysis of design metrics data indicated that the standard deviation and mean for the metric was higher for release 2, relatively lower for release 3, and again higher for release 4. Interpreting this means that there was a decrease in complexity and an improvement in the quality of the software from release 2 to release 3 and an increase in complexity in release 4. Dialog with project personnel regarding design metrics confirmed most of these observations. / Department of Computer Science

This study aims to explore the decision-making criteria for requirements selection in market-driven software development projects in China. Requirements selection decisions are made by reconciling the conflicting stakeholders??? value propositions into a mutually-agreed set through the negotiation and communication process between stakeholders. Firstly, this study identified decision-making criteria according to different stakeholders??? value propositions, and then evaluated the importance of the criteria when making the decisions of requirements selection. Moreover, the study determined the degree to which the stakeholders from business, product, and project perspectives influence the decision-making process. Furthermore, the study explored the communication between major stakeholders in requirements selection process, as a foundation to support and guide the process. A Delphi survey was applied in this study. Opinions from experienced industrial experts were obtained to achieve reliable consensus among them on the criteria and relative importance of the criteria in requirements selection process. The Delphi survey in this study included four phases of data collection by a series of intensive questionnaires interspersed with controlled opinion feedback and follow-up interviews. 132 Experts from 11 companies were recruited by following the rigid procedure to ensure the validity and reliability of the research. The study indicated that criteria from the business perspective had a major influence on decision-making of requirements selection, while project- and product-perspective criteria were relatively lower in priority. However, there were some inconsistencies among the opinions of the recruited experts regarding the importance of the criteria. The inconsistencies may result from a number of different factors, for example; different software development projects; different size, culture, organizational structure or maturity level of the companies; or different working positions of the experts surveyed. In addition, the study found three different types of communication in requirements selection in the companies surveyed. Further, Chinese culture was believed to have effects on the communication process between stakeholders. While informal communication was highlighted in Chinese context, the Chinese culture of strictly hierarchical communication could lead to problems in the communication process. Further research is recommended to gain deeper insight into these issues.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Information Technology)) -- Central University of technology, Free State, 2013 / This study compared the usability of three Information and Communication Technology (ICT) network programs in a learning environment. The researcher wanted to establish which program was most adequate from a usability perspective among second-year Information Technology (IT) students at the Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State. The Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI) testing technique can measure software quality from a user perspective. The technique is supported by an extensive reference database to measure a software product’s quality in use and is embedded in an effective analysis and reporting tool called SUMI scorer (SUMISCO). SUMI was applied in a controlled laboratory environment where second-year IT students of the CUT, utilized SUMI as part of their networking subject, System Software 1 (SPG1), to evaluate each of the three ICT network programs. The results, strengths and weaknesses, as well as usability improvements, as identified by SUMISCO, are discussed to determine the best ICT network program from a usability perspective according to SPG1 students.

Complex modern software is often built using existing application frameworks and middleware frameworks. These frameworks provide useful common services, while simultaneously imposing architectural rules and constraints. Existing software architecture evaluation methods do not explicitly consider the implications of these frameworks for software architecture. This research extends scenario-based architecture evaluation methods by incorporating framework-related information into different evaluation activities. I propose four techniques which target four different activities within a scenario-based architecture evaluation method. 1) Scenario development: A new technique was designed aiming to extract general scenarios and tactics from framework-related architectural patterns. The technique is intended to complement the current scenario development process. The feasibility of the technique was validated through a case study. Significant improvements of scenario quality were observed in a controlled experiment conducted by another colleague. 2) Architecture representation: A new metrics-driven technique was created to reconstruct software architecture in a just-in-time fashion. This technique was validated in a case study. This approach has significantly improved the efficiency of architecture representation in a complex environment. 3) Attribute specific analysis (performance only): A model-driven approach to performance measurement was applied by decoupling framework-specific information from performance testing requirements. This technique was validated on two platforms (J2EE and Web Services) through a number of case studies. This technique leads to the benchmark producing more representative measures of the eventual application. It reduces the complexity behind the load testing suite and framework-specific performance data collecting utilities. 4) Trade-off and sensitivity analysis: A new technique was designed seeking to improve the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) for trade-off and sensitivity analysis during a framework selection process. This approach was validated in a case study using data from a commercial project. The approach can identify 1) trade-offs implied by an architecture alternative, along with the magnitude of these trade-offs. 2) the most critical decisions in the overall decision process 3) the sensitivity of the final decision and its capability for handling quality attribute priority changes.